recession – To Archeio https://toarcheio.org To Archeio project site Mon, 04 May 2020 23:24:47 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.1 The causal powers of social change: the case of modern Greek society https://toarcheio.org/items/the-causal-powers-of-social-change-the-case-of-modern-greek-society/ Mon, 04 May 2020 23:24:47 +0000 https://toarcheio.org/items/the-causal-powers-of-social-change-the-case-of-modern-greek-society/ Continued]]> This article provides an empirical exploration of social change, by assessing subjective experiences and evaluations in relation to social alterations in Modern Greek society. The investigation concerns whether change in everyday life deriving from the Greek crisis also involves an alteration in the ways that Greeks perceive and consider social reality and themselves within it. This article supports the view that social change is related to agency in terms of reflexivity and that Greeks have contributed to social change through the alteration of their ways of thinking and behaving. Participants reported that practices, norms and mentalities inhereted by previous generations are no longer helpful. Customs (such as clientilism) and mentalities (such as prioritizing the personal over collective interest) must now change and be reformed as the new reality demands different ways of thinking and rapid adaptations to a new way of living which has become economically restricted and politically unstable. In this sense, Greeks are becoming reflexive towards the present situation and themselves within it and critical towards the past and future, as they consider what part of the older generation’s established mentalities to retain and what aspects of their way of living will alter.

]]> Dismantled spatial fixes in the aftermath of recession: Capital switching and labour underutilization in the Greek capital metropolitan region https://toarcheio.org/items/dismantled-spatial-fixes-in-the-aftermath-of-recession-capital-switching-and-labour-underutilization-in-the-greek-capital-metropolitan-region/ Mon, 04 May 2020 23:24:46 +0000 https://toarcheio.org/items/dismantled-spatial-fixes-in-the-aftermath-of-recession-capital-switching-and-labour-underutilization-in-the-greek-capital-metropolitan-region/ Continued]]> The article offers a fresh, empirically grounded look at the spatialities of crisis triggered employment forms––a largely overlooked issue in contemporary critical geography literature. Specifically, it discusses the interconnection between investment flows from manufacturing to the built environment (capital switching) and underemployment in urban metropolitan regions to substantiate its impact on emerging spatial fixities. The article, which is based on an empirical analysis informed by a radical political economy, investigates changing fixed capital formations in Greece over an extended period prior to and during the recession, from 1995 to 2012. It traces the evolution of part-time waged work in the capital metropolitan region of Attica (Athens) vis-à-vis the rest of the country’s regional labour markets, focusing on the polarized 2005–2012 period and the demise of the construction industry. The article highlights that ‘disrupted’ capital switching that occurred in Greece, closely associated with recalibrated sectoral priorities and institutional interventions, resulted in the uneven sprawling of underemployment. Our findings offer insight into how the dismantling of spatial fixes within core metropolitan regions of the southern European Union (and beyond) are connected to labour surplus and successive slumps in manufacturing and construction. The article closes by calling for new theorizations of contemporary urban regional unevenness and its spatiotemporal fixities, which account for the role of changes in labour turnover time.

]]> Enduring financial crisis in Greece: prevalence and correlates of major depression and suicidality https://toarcheio.org/items/enduring-financial-crisis-in-greece-prevalence-and-correlates-of-major-depression-and-suicidality/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:40 +0000 http://arc.local/items/enduring-financial-crisis-in-greece-prevalence-and-correlates-of-major-depression-and-suicidality/ Continued]]> PURPOSE:
A series of repeated cross-sectional surveys conducted in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013 were conducted with the aim of estimating the prevalence of major depression and suicidality as well as of investigating its risk factors. The present report concentrates on the 2013 survey.

METHODS:
A random and representative sample of 2.188 people was telephone interviewed with regard to various socio-economic indicators and the presence of major depression and suicidality, which were assessed with the germane module of the Structured Clinical Interview.

RESULTS:
Findings suggest a rise in 1-month prevalence of major depression (12.3 %) and a decline in prevalence of suicidality (2.8 %). Female gender, residence in rural area, low educational attainment, unemployment and economic hardship were found to increase the odds of suffering from major depression. The influence of economic hardship and unemployment on suicidality was also substantial and independent of major depression.

CONCLUSIONS:
Results stress the imperative need for the design and implementation of social policies and interventions that would offset the dire impact of the sustained recession in Greece.

]]> The Distributional Impact of Austerity and the Recession in Southern Europe https://toarcheio.org/items/the-distributional-impact-of-austerity-and-the-recession-in-southern-europe/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:28 +0000 http://arc.local/items/the-distributional-impact-of-austerity-and-the-recession-in-southern-europe/ Continued]]> Southern European welfare states are under stress. On the one hand, the recession has been causing unemployment to rise and incomes to fall. On the other hand, austerity has affected the capacity of welfare states to protect those affected. This paper assesses the distributional implications of the crisis in Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal from 2009 to 2013. Using a microsimulation model, we disentangle the first-order effects of tax–benefit policies from the broader effects of the crisis, and estimate how its burden has been shared across income groups. We conclude by discussing the methodological pitfalls and policy implications of our research.

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