Self-Orientalism And Self-Orientalist The Effect Of Thought On The Religious Attitudes And Behaviors

Orientalism, which began as the West’s scientific studies on Eastern civilizations, took on a different form over time. In the 17th century, developments in the West changed the direction of these studies into a structure in which the West produced the discourse of superiority. Under the influence of modernity, the West adopted the principle of ‘knowledge is power’ and aimed to develop societies other than its own. The idea that the West is a powerful civilization that must be followed has become widespread in Eastern societies over time, and this idea is called self-orientalism in the literature. Self-orientalism found a representative in Eastern societies with the beginning of modernization efforts. The pioneers of modernization took the West as an example and wanted to shape the society they belonged to through the eyes of orientalism. The idea of self-orientalism, which found its first representatives in Eastern societies in this way, has gradually expanded its sphere of influence today. It is thought that young people have an important place in the sphere of influence of this idea. For this reason, after explaining the subject of self-orientalism in the study, an evaluation was made with a scale applied to young people.