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Devrim Yavuz

@devrimyavuz.bsky.social
3.1K followers 3.4K following 916 posts

Sociologist @CUNY @ Lehman College, author of Democracy and Capitalism in Turkey, currently spending savings from quitting smoking on records, films and olive oil

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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
In addition to a substack w/ sociological essays about film, I've also started to make mixed CDs in my spare time. I will mail a copy of the CD to the first 10 people w/ a US address who subscribe to my free site and DM me here. The CD includes new female fronted synth pop and post-punk bands
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Fall means that the cats are upping their synchronized sleeping game!
Two cats sleeping in very similar position on a couch
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Of course. My two favorite teams from my two different nationalities have to face each other at the detriment of the other in the Europa League: Beşiktaş and Marseille
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Growing up with movies like One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest I was impressed by the cunning patients used to avoid taking sedatives. Living with a cat I've been trying to give a gabapentin pill for his arthritis pain mixed in food, I am beginning to realize that it's just annoying and instinctive
Tabby cat looking suspicious
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
One of my cats Marlowe falling asleep on one of my favorite social scientific books on capitalism and democracy: Hirschman's The Passions and the interests in which he reviews "arguments for capitalism before its triumph". the point: as convincing as they are, they are human made like capitalism
Cat falling asleep on a book called the Passions and interests
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Drove to Boston for @apsa.bsky.social to accept the APSA-PSA International Partnerships Award w/ Lisel Hintz, Feyda Sayan-Cengiz, Madonna Kalousian. Got to finally meet @liselhintz.bsky.social after working online for 2+ yrs. Amazing to confirm she is as interesting, generous and warm in person
Two people accepting a prize
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Today Destry is engaged in interpretive sleeping while his friend Marlowe tries to get my attention
Two cats on a couch one sitting normally looking at the camera the other sleeping on his back in a cute way
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I teach sociological theory and political sociology, but movies have been a passion of mine. I recently started to write about film as a project for fun. My first essays are about: (1)The Sugarland Express, Wile E Coyote and capitalism, (2) 1900 and theories of Fascism. devrimyavuz.substack.com
Picture of Wile E Coyote with the topic of an essay: Wile E Coyote, the Sugarland Express, and the American Dream
The recent release of Coyote v. ACME is a good reminder that the Warner Brother cartoon was always a good parable for the unattainability of the American dreamMovie poster for Bertolucci's 1900 with the cast with a summary of an essay on the film: Bertolucci’s 1900
How A Star-Studded International Production offers a Marxist Historical Account of Fascism
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
No. No. And...No...The Times of London (and Trump), Pee-wee Herman is NOT a children's TV show character. He is the comedic alter ego of a brilliant artist who happened to have made a show that was also appealing to kids
A the Times' article reporting that Pee-wee Herman is a children's TV show character
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
My film-loving friends and younger self loved movies written/directed by David Mamet and were shocked when he disavowed liberalism to embrace reactionary views. In hindsight it should not have been surprising: his work contained an old grump's conspiratorial view of a scary world full of scammers
Poster for Spartan Poster for the Spanish Prisoner Poster House of GamesPoster for Glengarry Glen Ross
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
But was it adequately stocked with taco bowls and McDonald's? Do we know if anyone came out to express how they felt about not being given the same escape route?
A food  container by Air Force One
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
I know that it is the insane amount of sodium that makes me like this water so much. But this is one of the 10 things I would go out of my way to find
A bottle of Vichy Catalan sparkling water
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Pro tip: if you do home projects in a wine producing region of France don't buy tools from a big chain or online. Instead support your local hardware store where, in my case, I was also able to buy Languedoc-Roussillon wine with my drill bits. Mandatory pro tip 2: drink the wine after drilling
Interior of a French hardware store selling wine next to batteries
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Front page of the daily Liberation: royal blue" Zidane France's new coach ❤️❤️❤️
Front page of Liberation: Bleu roi Zidane
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
I suppose that being familiar with other players besides Messi and Kane and knowing that Spain's la Liga is one of the top leagues, if not the best league, in the world is not a prerequisite to becoming a NYT sports columnist.
Nyt headline about how Spain won the world cup without any stars
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Zizou est là pour vous donner un coup de boule (headbutt)
Zidane jersey
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
That Rabiot was France's best player during the first half tells you all what you need to know about the game. The last 10 minutes compelled me to take this out to channel Zidane for more France goals :)
Zidane France jersey
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
But you need one winger on every Spanish squad with hair that bounces around with frantic energy to sow chaos in every game. It has been enshrined in the Spanish constitution since the great Puyol
The Spanish football player Puyol with long curly hair
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
I somehow managed to miss Belgium's nod to Magritte during the game
Belgian football jersey in light blue and pink with the words "ceci n'est pas un maillot" written in italic just under the neck
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Channeling good Belgian energy against team Trump tonight
Cover of "Gaston Lagaffe Champion" where comic book character Gaston Lagaffe is scoring with a bicycle kick.
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
3 connected hills I'm willing to die on. 1/Soderbergh's "Out of Sight" is grossly underappreciated as a crime classic 2/ If Jennifer Lopez weren't generally famous and chose more roles like this, Hustlers or U-Turn she'd be considered a great actress 3/ It is a good homage to Godard's Breathless
Poster of Out of Sight with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Car sitting next to a Zidane France jersey
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Channeling good Samurai Blue energy for the next 30+ minutes
Japan football jersey with logo of the JFA with black crow
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Confuse a cat by channeling the GOAT in your household this afternoon
Cat interrupts his grooming startled by the France Zidane jersey next to him
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Picked up a bunch of stuff, some of it randomly based on the endearing little post-it recommendations on the records others based on the owner's picks when I told him Japanese post-punk, classic punk, synth rock. Haven't gotten around to listening to all, but here's a small sample
Various Japanese album covers
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
The US doesn't even pretend to understand what soft power is anymore
Nyt headline: Women Who Fled Iran Are to Be Deported to Central African Republic, Lawyers Say
The women are among nearly two dozen people slated to be sent to a country where the U.S. government has advised “Do not travel for any reason.”
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Clearly my cat Destry does not know how to read or else he wouldn't find a book on The Rise of Organized Brutality by @sinisamalesevic.bsky.social this comforting (a great read evidently evidently also pillow)
A cat named Destry sleeping on a book called The Rise of Organized Brutality
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
The band Dry Cleaning were amazing to watch at the Basilica in Hudson yesterday. Distill the essence of a fun to listen to rock band and marry them to a charismatic deadpan lead. youtu.be/GVMJIZMOc1M?...
Dry Cleaning in concert at the Basilica
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Tell me your lead singer has damaged the reputation of your band without telling me he has damaged the reputation of your band

Album cover with the text : Arcade Fire presents “Open Your Heart or Die Trying”; an ambient release that imagines their latest album, “Pink Elephant”, as a new sonic landscape, a score to a film that hasn’t been made yet.
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
#adidas ! Give this cat a sponsorship deal already. Ever since Destry has been discovered on the streets of Queens, he's loved to cuddle with the adidas around the house. Probably influenced by fellow Queens natives RUN DMC
A long haired cat named Destry is sleeping next two to pairs of adidas A long haired cat named Destry is sleeping cuddling an adidas superstar
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Two headlines side by side on the same day: the projected loss from immigrants too scared to file their taxes in the US as reported by the NYT proves that what Spain is doing by giving its immigrants legal status is not only the human thing to do, but is effective government and smart economically
Nyt headline that reports that immigrants in the US are afraid to file taxes, which could cost the government billions
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Tabby solidarity: spaced out loaf
A tabby cat sitting like a loaf looking spaced out
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
I wonder to what extent this choice is impacted by what people see as tangible alternatives around them? Maybe the rural Americans who are asked this question are thinking of their own immediate densely populated towns that are not as exciting and do not have the same amenities as big cities
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Still some need for change on the gender front. The newspaper Liberation reports that 3/4 of the slates of candidates have men at the head of their lists. Left parties seem to be the ones that have presented the most slates across the country.
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Hard to focus on anything besides the Middle East. France's municipal elections today are consequential b/c of the feared gains of the far right. So far turn out is higher than COVID levels but lower than 2014. This could partly be explained by the fact that small towns only have one slate
From the newspaper liberation graph showing participation rates in municipal elections.
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Poster of mean streets with the main characters
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
I used to be a one cat type of person just out of a sense of loyalty to one cat, until I ended up with Destry and Marlowe and realized how peaceful it is to watch what I like to call "synchronized sleeping"
Cats Destry and Marlowe curled up sleeping in the exact mirror opposite of each other
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
I love Scandinavian directors' study of fragile masculinity like Joachim Trier, Ruben Ostlund and Thomas Vinterberg in such movies as Worst Person in the World, Force Majeure and the Celebration...but lately I've started to feel that they're just reporting what they see around them
Norwegian skier having a meltdown because he cheated on his girlfriend and then won the bronze medal at some kind of cross country skiing event and then decided to publicly get her involved
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
If you're teaching classical sociology and assigning Weber's original writing consider including this passage from Marianne Weber's biography of her husband (quoted in Bendix) then ask your students 'why do you think he really wrote that?' It 100% is not about protestantism leading to capitalism
He was entirely unconcerned with the form in which he presented his wealth of ideas. So many things came to him out of that storehouse of his mind, once the mass [of ideas] was in motion, that many times they could not be readily forced into a lucid sentence structure. And he wants to be done with it quickly and be brief about it on top of that, because ever new problems of reality crowd in upon him. What a limitation of discursive thought that it does not per-mit the simultaneous expression of several lines of thought which belong together! Therefore, much must be pressed hurriedly into long involved periods and what cannot be accommodated there has to be put into the footnotes. After all, let the reader take as much trouble with these matters as he had done himself.2Cover of Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait by Bendix
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
I keep returning to Alfonso Cuaron films/shows. Like for most, they're my favorite of the past two decades. One reason they're powerful is the role that women play. They are in the negative spaces not occupied by men, but unlike other movies who ignore them Cuaron sheds light on their importance.
Sandra Bullock and George Clooney on the set of GravityThe poster for Roma with children embracing their nanny on the beachThe cast of Y tu Mama TambienStill from the show Disclaimer
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Bonus... Dupieux has such great movies a action hero team spoof . Smoking Causes Coughing featuring a great cast... and incredible but true about a couple obsessed with a secret portal in their house and featuring Benoit Magimel in a hilarious medical tourism segment
Poster for incredible but true
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Hum...I guess being an expert in biological longevity doesn't make one an expert in social longevity. Which is ironic because some studies have revealed that building meaningful community can make you live longer.
CBS news headline about Peter Attia with his picture: Dr. Peter Attia, longevity expert, apologizes for "indefensible" emails to Jeffrey Epstein
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Even if you cannot donate now, check out the work, as I feel lucky to live in a household where this stuff is made
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
Senegalese players are weighing whether they should leave the African cup final because of poor refereeing. Great game between Morocco and Senegal until the last few minutes
Some Senegalese soccer players leaving a stadium
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
The reason more giant food corporations will embrace Dubai-style chocolate and its variants, beyond it's popularity, is its profit maximizing marketing genius: selling a product that has more of a cheaper ingredient like flour as something fancier than chocolate with high, costly cocoa content.
Lindt joining the Dubai chocolate wave
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
I'm confused...global history encompasses the so-called West. So according to this retired historian who claims to defend the virtue of liberal education, students are disoriented because they're learning more? I suppose... too much knowledge can be dizzying.
 weeks ago I gave my last lecture at Harvard, where I have been a history professor for forty years. My four decades of experience at one of the world’s leading universities have given me a unique vantage point to trace the replacement of Western history by global history. This change is part of the reason why the younger generation finds itself in a state of moral and intellectual disorientation.
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
It's hard to want to do any work when my cats Destry and Marlowe are so good at synchronized sleeping
Two cats sleeping curled up in the same exact position
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
I thought that we already knew how to go back in time 85-90 years
Article with the headline "A Scientist Says Humans Will Go Backwards in Time Within Just 4 Years"
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
I'm still waiting for the day they make a biopic where Kyle MacLachlan plays office supply magnate W.B. Mason in the same tradition of satires of capitalism as the Coens' Hudsocker Proxy or Orson Welles's Citizen Kane
A w.b. Mason office supply truck with the portrait of its founder that looks like Kyle MacLachlan. Kyle MacLachlan
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Devrim Yavuz @devrimyavuz.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Most self-confident imposter syndrome dream: legendary French nat team players were doing a talent showcase in a crowded stadium. I was a spy posing as Zidane, awkwardly kicking the ball around next to Mbappé fearing that the ONLY way my cover would be blown was if people knew my jersey was fake 🤣
Zidane and Mbappé shaking hands
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