The analysis of social events with the economic and class structure they emerge from constitutes a materialistic method approach. When the superstructural reforms of the Republican period are examined along with the economic and class structure, the following results are reached. First, the secularism and constitutionalism were shaped as the worldview of the middle classes which were based on the accumulation of domestic capital and aimed at strengthening and taking part in the governance against the sultanate elite and the bourgeoisie based on import in the sultanate circles. Taking the tradition away from social relations and controlling the institution of religion eliminated the political legitimacy of the old feudal classes as well. The second fundamental variable shaping the Turkish modernization in the Republican period is the corporatism. The function of corporatism in the Turkish modernization was the preservation of the power, which was grabbed at the beginning of the 20th century by the middle classes based on domestic capital, especially from the classes of workers and peasants in the subsequent period. The corporatism is the basic principle that gives the anti-Marxist feature to the Turkish modernization. The third principal determinant is the joining the capitalist world system. The Turkish modernization has an objective for the local middle classes to align with the capitalist world system. The principle of “catching the West” has become one of the determinants of the Turkish modernization. No doubt, the determinant principles of the Turkish modernization in the Republican period are not limited to these three approaches. In terms of the accessibility to the basic literature, for the time being the article is limited to these three basic principal determinants.

Keywords: Turkish Modernization, Historical Materialism, Corporatism, Capitalist World System