https://toarcheio.org To Archeio project site Mon, 04 May 2020 23:24:41 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.1 https://toarcheio.org/items/media-and-the-economic-crisis-of-the-eu-the-culturalization-of-a-systemic-crisis-and-bild-zeitungs-framing-of-greece/ Mon, 04 May 2020 23:24:41 +0000 https://toarcheio.org/items/media-and-the-economic-crisis-of-the-eu-the-culturalization-of-a-systemic-crisis-and-bild-zeitungs-framing-of-greece/ Continued]]> This article critically studies the hegemonic discursive construction of the EU’s current (2012) economic crisis, as it is articulated by political and economic elites and by mass media. The study focuses on the political economy of the particular crisis and through the critical concept of reification, the study emphasizes the hegemonic naturalization of the economic crisis by the “free market” economistic ideology. The article problematizes the positioning of Greece as the “crisis epicentre” in Europe, understanding Greece as a scapegoat and as a laboratory where political strategies of capitalist restructuring of the EU are performed. Through the frame analysis of Bild-zeitung’s headlines on the coverage of crisis-struck Greece, the article discusses a) the “culturalization” of the crisis and the diversion from a structural public debate on the global economic crisis b) the disciplinary function of crisis’ publicity, related to social control and the production of new, neoliberal social subjectivities c) the alienating effect of the culturalist crisis discourses to transnational publics, resulting to the misrecognition of the ideological and structural reasons of the given crisis, the misrecognition of the effects of the crisis and crisis-politics in people’s lives, the misrecognition of popular socio-political struggles in countries worse struck by crisis politics, and the eclipse of transnational solidarity and identification to the common issues that European people in particular are facing.

]]> https://toarcheio.org/items/the-impact-of-economic-crises-on-ngos-the-case-of-greece/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:53 +0000 http://arc.local/items/the-impact-of-economic-crises-on-ngos-the-case-of-greece/ Continued]]> The paper analyzes the impact of economic crises on organized civil society. A number of empirical studies have shown that a financial crisis can inflict a serious damage on the nonprofit sector—mainly through a sharp decline in revenues. However, the Greek case shows that a crisis can also have some positive effects on NGOs: many nonprofits introduced reforms that increased efficiency, the number of volunteers reached record levels, and there was a spectacular rise in funding by private philanthropic foundations. However, Greek NGOs continue to be dependent on external funding, unable to raise large sums from their members and the wider public. Organized Greek civil society continues to be turned upside down: dependency on EU and state funds is being replaced by dependency on private foundations.

]]> https://toarcheio.org/items/illuminating-austerity-lighting-poverty-as-an-agent-and-signifier-of-the-greek-crisis/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:52 +0000 http://arc.local/items/illuminating-austerity-lighting-poverty-as-an-agent-and-signifier-of-the-greek-crisis/ Continued]]> Light – whether natural or artificial – plays multiple roles in the home: both as a material enabler of everyday life and as a device for exercising a variety of social relations. The post-2008 Greek economic crisis has endangered those roles by limiting people’s ability to access or afford adequate energy services. This paper focuses on the enforced lack of illumination in the home, and the strategies and tactics undertaken by households to overcome this challenge. I connect illumination practices and discourses to the implementation of austerity, by arguing that the threat of darkness has become a tool for compelling vulnerable groups to pay their electricity bills. The evidence presented in the paper is based on two sets of interviews with 25 households (including a total of 55 adult members) living in and around Thessaloniki – Greece’s second largest city, and one that has suffered severe economic consequences as a result of the crisis. I have established that the under-consumption of light is one of the most pronounced expressions of energy poverty, and as such endangers the ability to participate in the customs that define membership of society. But the emergence of activist-led amateur electricians and the symbolic and material mobilization of light for political purposes have also created multiple opportunities for resistance.

]]> https://toarcheio.org/items/why-greeks-rebel-re-examining-conventional-and-radical-political-action/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:50 +0000 http://arc.local/items/why-greeks-rebel-re-examining-conventional-and-radical-political-action/ Continued]]> Recent years have witnessed a rise of contentious political activity across the world heralding what some perceive as a new major cycle of protest. Much attention has focused on Europe, where the economic crisis generated considerable social unrest deemed comparable to earlier waves of protest. This article seeks to examine the basic constituents of the social forces unleashed by this economic crisis and to assess the main motivations driving this new cycle of protest. It distinguishes between conventional and radical political activity and seeks to identify the main correlates of each. The article uses an original telephone survey designed, piloted, and conducted in Greece (n = 5025) to construct a 12-item conventionalism scale and a 10-item radicalism scale. Using psychometric techniques, it assesses the effects of various independent variables on the two modes of political action. The article finds that, even in this economic crisis-hit setting, economic deprivation has a minimal effect on the two modes of behavior. Ideology, especially on the left of the political spectrum, has the strongest effect on both radical and conventional political action. Despite the major changes in the political context brought about by the economic crisis, political action displays significant continuity with the past.

]]> https://toarcheio.org/items/why-high-school-students-aspire-to-emigrate-evidence-from-greece/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:50 +0000 http://arc.local/items/why-high-school-students-aspire-to-emigrate-evidence-from-greece/ Continued]]> This paper investigates why Greek high school students aspire to emigrate, in relation to their educational and socio-economic background. Through fieldwork research conducted at three specialist high schools in Thessaloniki, three main conclusions have been drawn. Firstly, potential emigrants are ambitious, with high educational and professional expectations and a clear migration plan. Secondly, they are middle and upper middle class and excel at school—in socio-economic and educational terms, they therefore constitute the most dynamic Greek youths. Thirdly, in a period of recession on a European level, the alarming fact is that student emigration can undermine recovery for a country in crisis such as Greece. That is, middle-class shrinkage caused by the recession can be aggravated by emigration, which in turn might cost the loss of developmental human resources for Greece and a deepening of the recession. This can further stimulate migration, resulting in a vicious circle between crisis and emigration. Furthermore, if potential emigrants do not return because temporary emigration for studies becomes permanent migration for work, the economic crisis is worsened, and Greece’s prospects for development are further undermined.

]]> https://toarcheio.org/items/firm-relocation-in-times-of-economic-crisis-evidence-from-greek-small-and-medium-enterprises-movement-to-bulgaria-2007-2014/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:49 +0000 http://arc.local/items/firm-relocation-in-times-of-economic-crisis-evidence-from-greek-small-and-medium-enterprises-movement-to-bulgaria-2007-2014/ Continued]]> This paper examines firm relocation in the aftermath of the 2007 global economic crisis. In particular, the paper analyses the unprecedented recent increase in the movement of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from Greece to Bulgaria using original insights by a survey of 103 Greek companies in Bulgaria. The findings suggest a reconsideration of the existing literature on firm mobility in order to explain the post-crisis movement of Greek SMEs. Entrepreneurs perceived firm relocation as a necessity, while, contrary to the existing literature, labour cost does not appear to have significantly influenced firm exit from Greece, the level of demand was highlighted as more important compared with the literature findings and access to external finance emerged as a major factor. Important among elements that attracted businesspeople to Bulgaria were low taxation and geographical proximity to Greece. The present analysis thus challenges the significance of firm relocation determinants in the literature.

]]> https://toarcheio.org/items/shooting-a-moving-target-the-sisyphus-boulder-of-increasing-participation-in-adult-education-during-the-period-of-economic-crisis/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:49 +0000 http://arc.local/items/shooting-a-moving-target-the-sisyphus-boulder-of-increasing-participation-in-adult-education-during-the-period-of-economic-crisis/ Continued]]> This article presents a study conducted after the onset of the economic crisis in Greece. The study lasted for more than five years and was organized by the Research Institutes of Trade Union Confederation of Greece and the Hellenic Small Enterprises Institute of the Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants. Using a mixed methodology, combining qualitative and quantitative approaches, we attempt to investigate participation in adult education and record the reasons and barriers which shape participation patterns. Data presented in this article show that participation has increased in Greece, and at the same time inequalities are magnified, while the economic crisis seems to be a serious deterrent factor for a further development of adult education. Our goal is to interpret those findings based on developments of contemporary Greek society with regard to the meaning that participants attribute to the factors affecting their participation.

]]> https://toarcheio.org/items/fossilized-futures-topologies-and-topographies-of-crisis-experience-in-central-greece/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:49 +0000 http://arc.local/items/fossilized-futures-topologies-and-topographies-of-crisis-experience-in-central-greece/ Continued]]> Drawing on ethnography from western Thessaly, this article reassesses notions of time and temporality in the Greek economic crisis. People experience the past as a folded assemblage of linearly distant and sometimes contradictory moments that help them make sense of a period of social change. Anthropologists should embrace the paradoxes of (poly)temporality and address the topological/topographical experience of time and history. During an era of severe uncertainty, in Greece temporality is discussed through material objects such as photovoltaic panels and fossils as people articulate their situation vis-à-vis the past, present, and future. Multiple moments of the past are woven together to explain the current crisis experience, provoking fear that times of hardship are returning or instilling hope that the turmoil can be overcome.

]]> https://toarcheio.org/items/heritage-spectacles-the-case-of-amphipolis-excavations-during-the-greek-economic-crisis/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:48 +0000 http://arc.local/items/heritage-spectacles-the-case-of-amphipolis-excavations-during-the-greek-economic-crisis/ Continued]]> This article explores the ways in which the archaeological excavations at Amphipolis, Northern Greece, were transformed into a ‘heritage spectacle’ during the summer of 2014. The article argues that the spectacularisation of Amphipolis excavations constituted a powerful, political medium for dis-orientating the wider Greek public from issues related to the severe economic crisis of the country. Although the practice of heritage spectacularisation is not new, the media spectacle of Amphipolis introduced an advanced mechanism for spectacularizing archaeological research and the past. The article deconstructs this mechanism through a thematic content analysis of about 100 newspaper articles published in the Greek press, filtered through the lenses of spectacle theory. As it is demonstrated, the spectacularisation process of Amphipolis excavations is embodied by emotive dramatisation, banal cultural symbols, escapism and power imbalances. The article concludes with an interpretive framework for heritage spectacles while highlighting ethical and practical implications regarding the role of archaeologists and heritage practitioners towards political ‘abuse’ of heritage in times of socio-economic and political crises.

]]> https://toarcheio.org/items/thessaloniki-the-changing-geography-of-the-city-and-the-role-of-spatial-planning/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:48 +0000 http://arc.local/items/thessaloniki-the-changing-geography-of-the-city-and-the-role-of-spatial-planning/ Continued]]> Thessaloniki has existed for over twenty-three centuries. Today it is the second largest city in Greece after Athens. This City Profile aims to identify and present the milestones in the city’s development trajectory and give an overview of the evolution and the planning of the city. After a summary of the historical development of Thessaloniki, emphasis is given to the period after 1990s. Lately, the fiscal and refugee crises hitting the country have changed the urban geography of the city, challenging its sustainability and questioning its future development. At the same time the planning and management system of the city face the overfragmentation and semi-implementation of the plans, the chronic lack of a clear vision for the city’s development and the downgrading of the role of strategic spatial planning within the current context of recession. The adoption of a really radical resilience policy along with the reconsideration and redefinition of planning principles and content seems to be the only option for Thessaloniki to track its development trajectory.

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