UNCHARTED TERRITORY: THE
GREEK HOUSEHOLD AND ITS
SURVIVAL STRATEGIES
How have the 3 Economic Adjustment Programs (EAPs) impacted the Greek urban families of Thessaloniki?Martha Kapazoglou Student Number: 12759384 Research Master’s Thesis in International Development Studies, Thesis supervisor: Dr. Nicky Pouw Second reader: Dr. Mieke Lopes Cardozo
Picture 1: The sketch was created by the extremely talented Markella Tornivouka for this project
Abstract
To curb the 2008 Greek economic crisis, the European Troika implemented a series of Economic Adjustment Programs The Troika’s conditionality measures required the Greek government to disinvest from social welfare. The Troika-led Economic Adjustment Programs have led to a drastic fall in wages, pensions, social assistant, health care, and other public expenditures. While scholars have extensively studied the consequences of these cutbacks, the negative pressures state disinvestment has exerted on households’ social reproduction remain ignored. To address this gap, the article tackles the following research question: How have the Economic Adjustment Programs affected Greek urban households’ social reproduction
processes and how have they affected intergenerational solidarity within their kinship networks? Adopting a feminist epistemology, and based on five months of field research, which included in-depth interviews with working-class women and time-use surveys, I found that income across all interviewed households has reduced sharply, while domestic and formal labor has intensified. Income reduction and labor intensification have forced families to devise and implement money- and time-saving, food and care provision strategies, which have compromised the overall quality of social reproduction. Inconsequential state support has impelled most women to depend
financially on their parents and/or in-laws and to ask for greater help in caring for their kids. Finally, the four single mothers in the sample face additional challenges, specific to their household type. Policymakers have comfortably ignored these negative consequences, as they manifest in the unpaid, reproductive economy and are not easily quantifiable. Transposing African feminists’ critique against structural adjustment in the European context, this article concludes that austerity has been an ineffective and socially unjust policy, which further underlines the rigidity of neoliberal, international organizations.
Acknowledgments
I am eternally indebted to my family, which was the primary source of inspiration for this thesis, and to my aunt in particular to whom I dedicate this work. I would like to give special thanks to Irini Sossidi for the invaluable time she contributed to this project as a research assistant. I am also grateful for Dr. Pouw’s constant and clear guidance through the whole process. Finally, I would like to warmly thank Enmanuel Heredia, Emma Wilbur, Michael Hall, Aliki Stogianou and Becky Contreras for intellectually engaging with the project, providing me with invaluable feedback and constituting my core support system.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction 5
2. Theoretical Framework 7
2.1. Assessing the strength and weaknesses of Social Reproduction Theory and
the Intergenerational Solidarity Paradigm: A Literature Review 7
2.2. Merging Social Reproduction Theory and the Intergenerational Solidarity
Paradigm in a theoretical framework: An attempt at super-synthesis 15
3. Conceptual Model 19
4. Research Methodology 22
4.1. Ontology and Epistemology 22
4.2. Research Design 23
4.3. Data Collection: sampling strategies and analysis 28
4.4. Ethical Considerations 33
5. Research Context 35
5.1. The Greek economic trajectory: A path filled with dependency 36
5.2. Urbanization and the formation of the traditional lower-middle class 39
5.3. The status of women in Greek society 41
5.4. A brief introduction of the participants 44
6. An analysis of EAPs’ general effects 45
6.1. The pre-crisis welfare system 46
6.2. Following the EAP directive: policy change in the period 2010-2018 49
6.3. The general effects of state disinvestment on the Greek population 53
7. Feeding the family in times of crisis 58
7.1. Stressed out, innovative, in-charge: women and food provision
in light of labor intensification 58
7.2. A double-edged sword: the compromising existence of
cost-saving strategies 62
8. Caring for kids and one’s self under the strains of state disinvestment 69
8.1. Caring for underaged kids: fewer resources, stronger commitment 69
8.2. “I feel like I’m exhausting myself”: women’s mental and physical wellbeing 75
9. “My family is my head rest and my undoing”: intergenerational
solidarity in crisis 77
9.1. Functional intergenerational solidarity: much needed, but not enough 78
9.2. Associational intergenerational solidarity: compromised and infrequent 83
10. Conclusions 87
10.1. Answering the research question 87
10.2. Theoretical contributions and conceptual scheme 89
10.3. Methodological reflections 91
10.4. Research and policy recommendations 94
11. Epilogue 97
12. References 98
List of Abbreviations
Abbreviation Meaning Page
EAP Economic Adjustment Program 5
EC European Commission 5
ECB European Central Bank 5
EEC European Economic Community 38
EFKA Single Agency of Social Insurance 52 EOPYY National Organization for the
Provision of Health Services
53
EU European Union 9
GDP Gross Domestic Product 36
IMF International Monetary Fund 5
ISP Intergenerational Solidarity Paradigm
14
NHS National Health Service 48
OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
42
PASOK Panhellenic Socialist Movement 50
SAP Structural Adjustment Program 6
SRT Social Reproduction Theory 15
TUS Time-Use Survey 27
TWT Total Working Time 10
List of Tables, Figures, Pictures and Graphs
Name Page
Picture 1 Cover page
Conceptual Scheme 21
Research questions Table 24
Operationalization Table 25
Convergent Design Figure 29
Picture 2 40
Picture 3 43
List of Participants 45
Timeline of Austerity Policies 54
Picture 4 57
Picture 5 66
Picture 6 69
Picture 7 73
Picture 8 86
Chapter 1. Introduction and research questions Introduction
In early 2010s, my aunt’s local cosmetics store in a working-class neighborhood of Thessaloniki, Greece, started losing its competitive edge and clientele over the well-established, global financial crisis. Her husband, a freelance masseur, saw his clientele reduced to none, as Greeks’ ever-decreasing income prohibited such luxuries. Around the same time, the Troika, a tripartite alliance between the European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), activated the first Economic Adjustment Programme (EAP). The first and subsequent two EAPs provided a series of hefty loans to the Greek
government, which in turn had to implement restructuring measures. Since then, there has been a EUR 5.2 billion decrease in health care spending, a drastic fall in wages, pension entitlements and social assistance benefits, a fall which is juxtaposed with a spike in indirect taxes and levies, and finally a tremendous, all-inclusive down-sizing of the public sector (Kourachanis, 2016; Petmesidou, 2013). To put the consequences of austerity in statistical perspective, in 2018, 16,7% of the Greek population suffered from some form of material deprivation, 29,3% lived under conditions of over-crowdedness, 22,9% was unable to afford heating in winter time and 48,6% took out consumer loans to cover basic needs (Elliniki Statistiki Archi, 2018).
Unsurprisingly, much of the literature has focused on the EAPs’ macroeconomic consequences (Anastasiou et al., 2015; Lynn, 2011; Meghir et al., 2018; Monastiriotis et al., 2013; Papaconstantinou, 2016; Papadopoulou & Sakellaridis, 2012). Feminist literature, diverging from this mainstream path, has investigated EAPs’ effects on gender equality in the labor market (Karamessini & Rubery, 2014; Lyberaki & Tinios, 2016; Papageorgiou & Petousi,
2018; Rubery, 2015a). Regarding the reproductive economy1, most scholars make brief, generic
statements, merely recognizing the overall negative impacts EAPs must have had on households (Agathangelou, 2019; Kokaliari, 2018; Lyberaki & Tinios, 2016; Papageorgiou & Petousi, 2018; Vaiou, 2014, 2016). This marks a clear empirical gap in knowledge. For the most part, gender topics in macroeconomic analysis are usually viewed as “special issues” that detract from important matters at hand (Vaiou, 2016, pp. 534–535). Filling this knowledge gap could help showcase the reproductive economy as an indispensable background condition for economic production in capitalist societies (Bhattacharya & Vogel, 2017, p. 23; Hartmann, 1981; Quick, 1977; Vogel, 2013).
Critical social reproduction theorists, Latin American and Sub-Saharan feminists have written extensively on the topic, thus composing a rich body of knowledge. More specifically, they assert that Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) have had adverse effects on the daily processes of social reproduction and particularly on the mental health, diet and time use of women (Afshar & Dennis, 1992a; Barriteau, 1996a; Due & Gladwin, 1991a). Applying this body of literature on the case of Greece, I will investigate whether Greek urban families and especially their female members have had similar experiences. In doing so, I hope to widen the regional focus of International Development Studies.
Zooming into the particular structures of Greek urban families, scholars have noted the rapid and yet incomplete transition from the extended rural family model to the nuclear one (Papadopoulos, 1998, p. 2). This bastardized form of the nuclear family, which I will elaborate further in the sections to come, in combination with structural familialism morphed a special
1 In the context of this paper, reproductive economy is understood as involving families and the private sphere –
where human life is generated and maintained, and socialization reproduced. Its agents revolve around biological and social reproduction as these relate to the production of use values and non-waged labor (Peterson, 2002, p. 9).
kind of solidarity, grounded in blood-relations and in the private sphere (Papadopoulos, 1998; Κατάκη, 1984, p. 41). The return to kinship and family solidarity are far from innocent, they are laden with sociopolitical implications, especially when the welfare state is running out of steam (Bawin-Legros & Stassen, 2002, p. 244). If the nuclear family, unable to navigate social
reproduction alone, starts depending on family intergenerational transfers that in turn would reflect on the ruinous state EAPs have induced on the Greek welfare state. By enmeshing social reproduction theory and literature on intergenerational solidarity, I hope to create a new
theoretical framework to better capture and understand the Greek urban family experiences during the EAPs era. The theoretical and empirical gaps identified above have motivated me to pose the following overarching research question:
How have the three EAPs affected Greek urban families in terms of women’s ability to carry out social reproduction processes and how has it affected intergenerational solidarity within their
larger kinship networks?
Chapter 2. Theoretical Framework
This chapter consists of two interrelated sections. The first one entails a literature review, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of as well as gaps in feminist political economy, social reproduction theory and the intergenerational solidarity paradigm (section 2.1). the literature review sets the stage for the super-synthesis that takes place in section 2.2. after tracing the compatibility between the three theories, I merge their relevant dimensions in a joint theoretical framework.
2.1 Assessing Social Reproduction Theory and the Intergenerational Solidarity Paradigm: A Literature Review
The specific iteration of my research question, which identifies family as the unit of analysis and social reproduction as a key concept, elucidates the scope of this literature review.
As it has primarily been feminist literature that has theorized EAPs’ effects on families and women, I will review its two most relevant strands: feminist political economy and social reproduction theory. By deconstructing each theory, my goal is two-fold: to parse out the said gendered effects of EAPs, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each respective theory.
Feminist political economists have grappled on a theoretical level with SAPs, which as mentioned above are almost identical to EAPs minus the monetary recommendations.
Additionally, the IMF was a key decision-maker in the implementation of both SAPs and EAPs. For these reasons, I deem the review of feminist political economy’s critique of SAPs germane to my work. Social reproduction theory is not directly critiquing EAPs either. It rather casts a wider economic commentary on state disinvestment and on the neoliberal rational. EAPs have both promoted state disinvestment from social welfare and are guided by neoliberal axioms, making social reproduction theory relevant to this review. In discussing both theories, I have attempted to include canonical works and scholars that are widely cited within their respective theories. I conducted a Google Scholar search with predefined terms and then followed a snowball method (Appendix, table 1).
For economic recovery, Troika prescribed and pushed for a parcel of measures that entail assorted free market policies, cuts in government spending, privatization, and export promotion (European Commission, 2010, 2012). The presumed neutrality and value-free character of macroeconomic theory has pushed feminist scholars to grapple with the question of whether SAPs and EAPs are gender neutral or gender blind, ignoring their women-specific impacts (Due & Gladwin, 1991b, p. 1431). Neoclassical theory, informing Troika’s policies, is found guilty of gender bias on three counts. Firstly, feminist political economists argue that under the guise of economic neutrality lies a systematic exclusion of reproductive and human resource management
processes (Elson, 1987, p. 3). Such exclusion has led Troika to take the reproductive economy for granted and to presuppose that it will keep functioning somewhat harmonically despite any resource reallocation (Sadasivam, 1997a, p. 636). But what effects does resource reallocation have on the relation between the productive and the reproductive economy? This question is brought to the forefront by feminist political economists.
Secondly, feminist economists argue that another component of gender bias in macroeconomic theory is its flawed understanding of the family. According to the
macroeconomic view, the household constitutes a unified and welfare-maximizing unit that pools and shares resources (Sadasivam, 1997a, p. 639). Based on that assumption, policy makers believe that households can and will absorb adjustment-related transition costs.
Thirdly, feminist economists showcase the dangers involved in assuming that women’s unpaid labor is infinitely elastic, capable of compensating for any shortfalls in alternate resources (Afshar & Dennis, 1992a, pp. 6–7; Elson, 2010a, p. 203). This imagined flexibility has led to breaking points for women, which, however, remain comfortably ignored, as it is hard to monetize time and reproductive activities (Williams Kamara, 1998a, p. 6). It is not, then, the household as a unit that endures adjustment shocks, but rather women through their multiple roles as workers, wives, mothers, consumers and producers.
Empirical research on the topic builds on this conceptual framework to investigate how the 2008 economic crisis and the ensuing austerity measures affect gender equality (Karamessini & Rubery, 2014; Rubery, 2015a; Sabarwal et al., 2010). It is argued that austerity in the
European context has produced regressive gender equality in the labor market, attained through the deterioration of employment and social conditions for both men and women (ADDABBO et al., 2015; Karamessini & Rubery, 2014, p. 183; Rubery, 2015a, p. 716). Similarly, an EU
Synthesis Report focuses on the macroeconomic impacts of austerity on men and women, by analyzing such issues as the gender pay gap, employment policies and income gaps (Bettio et al., 2012). The Report devotes one chapter on total working time (TWT), the sum of unpaid and paid working time, finding that women on average spend an extra 60 minutes more on TWT per day compared to men, a differential that is accounted for by unpaid work time (Bettio et al., 2012, p. 90). This affirms the findings of another time-use study which found that during the 2008 recession women increased the time devoted to housework (Aguiar, 2011).
A clear empirical gap emerges: although feminist political economists have analyzed the gendered labor market effects of EAPs, they have not yet considered the policies’ consequences at the household level. The collection of essays, Scandalous Economics, stands as a stark exception to this overall trend, contributing a whole section on post-austerity Britain and the crisis of social reproduction in the Eurozone (Hozic & True, 2016). Moreover, while the theory exposes the fallacies in the mainstream macroeconomic conception of the family, it is as of yet unable to propose a concrete, alternative definition. On the other hand, feminist scholars identify the gender bias implicit in the macroeconomic thinking guiding EAPs and based on that makes a powerful case as to why EAPs put women at a disadvantage.
Social reproduction theory, grounded in feminist political economy and Marxist feminism, delves deeper into the previously ignored effects of neoliberal economic policies on daily processes of social reproduction (Elson, 1998, p. 190). Contemporary social reproduction theorists build on the work of earlier feminists to showcase social reproduction as an
indispensable background condition for economic production in capitalist societies
(Bhattacharya & Vogel, 2017, p. 23; Hartmann, 1981; Quick, 1977; Vogel, 2013). Brenner and Laslett are credited to this day for coining a detailed definition of social reproduction, which
entails the social necessary work directly involved in maintaining life and reproducing a population, on a daily basis and intergenerationally. Among other things, social reproduction includes how food, clothing, and shelter are made available for immediate consumption, how the maintenance and socialization of children is accomplished, and how care of the elderly and infirm is provided (Laslett & Brenner, 1991, p. 314).
Central to the theory is how various institutions, namely the state, markets, the
family/households and the third sector, interact with each other and balance power so that the work involved in the daily and generational maintenance of people is successfully completed (Luxton & Bezanson, 2006, p. 4). On a household level, sociohistorically conditioned gender norms presume women as primarily responsible for the survival of household members, which in turn puts women in charge of reproduction activities (Elson, 2010b, p. 207).
Furthermore, it is important to highlight the processual nature of the theory and its relational ontology (LeBaron, 2010, p. 891). Capitalist societies, in line with this relational ontology, do not exist “as such”, but rather undertake historically specific forms that ossify into a particular organization of social reproduction (Bhattacharya & Vogel, 2017, p. 25).
Fraser identifies three stages in the development of capitalist societies: liberal
competitive capitalism (19th century); state managed capitalism (20th century); and globalizing,
financial capitalism, in which we presently live under. This third stage, globalizing and
neoliberal, promotes a normative order of reason that transmogrifies every human domain and activity according to a specific image of the economic (Brown, 2015, pp. 9–10). The neoliberal rationality requires that market values be extended to all institutions and social relations so that all aspects of human life are reshaped according to the market criteria of efficiency and
individual responsibilities that disproportionately fall onto the shoulders of women. This is manifested in the mass-scale entrance of women into the paid laborforce, as single income households become financially unviable in light of the corporate and state disinvestment from social welfare provision. Care work is, thus, externalized onto families and communities, while their respective capacities to perform it are diminished. The end product is a dualized
organization of social reproduction, commodified for those who can afford it and privatized for those who cannot (Bhattacharya & Vogel, 2017, p. 32). This restructuring of social reproduction, however, does not alter gendered divisions of labor within the household (Katz, 2001, p. 713). Those who can afford externalizing care work tend to hire either women from lower social strata or migrant women from the Global South (Katz, 2001, p. 713). For those who cannot, female members of the household are expected to intensify their unpaid work as an alternative to purchasing household goods and undertake extra casual paid work (Elson, 2010b, p. 207).
A potential problem with social reproduction theory in the context of my research is that it remains frustratingly abstract. For example, it does not critique any single economic policy, but rather undertakes the entirety of the capitalist neoliberal system, which produces such policies as the EAPs. While, the theory defines social reproduction and its key dimensions, it fails to conceptualize the family, its key unit of analysis. On the positive side, the theory makes explicit the hurtful consequences of state disinvestment on the daily processes of social
reproduction and how that places a heavy burden on women’s shoulders.
The lack of adequate theorizing of families in both theories pushed me to consider the other key concept in my research questions, intergenerational solidarity. These final paragraphs of section 2.1 will look at the intergenerational solidarity paradigm and examine its suitability to fill gaps in feminist political economy and social reproduction theory. The intergenerational
solidarity paradigm has been derived through the insights of classical social theory, social psychology and family sociology (Roberts et al., 1991, pp. 13–17). Family solidarity entails the whole range of domestic, affective and financial services that are shared by those connected through kinship links (Bawin-Legros & Stassen, 2002, p. 243). Bengtson and Roberts have developed a theoretical model of solidarity, operationalizing the concept along six dimensions: associational; affectional; consensual; functional; normative; and structural (V. L. Bengtson & Roberts, 1991) (Appendix, table 2). Szydlic zooms in structural solidarity to elaborate on opportunity and need structure. Opportunity structure reflects opportunity or resources that enable or hinder social interaction within the kinship network (Szydlik, 2016, p. 21). Need structures indicate need for social interaction as well as desires, goals and interests for one’s self and significant others (Szydlik, 2016, p. 22). Consequently, the fulfillment of one’s needs depends both on her own opportunities and the resources and needs of other persons in the family web. Scholars have stressed that families tend to develop varied patterns of solidarity (Daatland & Herlofson, 2001, p. 19).
Critical theorists address the overly positive bias of the solidarity paradigm by
considering conflict and ambivalence, concepts now integrated to mainstream models (Daatland & Herlofson, 2001, p. 25). The process of ambivalence refers to the alteration between conflict and harmonious relations; presence and lack of support; and the existence of autonomy and dependence, pairs that can be simultaneously present in family relations (Lüscher, 2011; Preoteasa et al., 2018, p. 116). Ambivalence breeds negotiations surrounding contradictory expectations and demands, which can lead to greater harmony if successfully resolved or more conflict if left unaddressed (V. Bengtson et al., 2002, p. 569).
One of the main strengths of the intergenerational solidarity paradigm is its intent to dissect, describe, and explain the internal dynamics of kinship networks. This is particularly important in the context of international development, where the family is oftentimes treated as a black box. The above review also shows that mainstream intergenerational solidarity thought neither accounts for the impact of exogenous factors nor makes gendered considerations.
As far as exogenous factors are concerned, Bawin-Legros and Stassen explain that when the welfare state is running out of steam, public powers tend to capitalize on existing family support structures to disinvest and retract from their responsibility to provide support (Bawin-Legros & Stassen, 2002, p. 245). On a similar empirical vein, Preoteasa et al. consider the impact of economic crisis on precarious Romanian households, concluding that the latter resort to intergenerational solidarity to restore their fragile equilibrium (Preoteasa et al., 2018, p. 112). Engagement in ever-increasing intergenerational solidarity is a costly effort and thus a fragile strategy in times of crisis due to limited and unpredictable resources (Preoteasa et al., 2018, p. 126). Connidis and McMullin attempt a critical theoretical intervention, arguing that problems within the family do not arise solely through interpersonal conflict (Connidis & McMullin, 2002, p. 558). Family problems can be structural issues and thus there is a need to focus on the links between social structures and the actions of family members (Connidis & McMullin, 2002, p. 558).
Moving on to gendered considerations, critical theorists view the family as linked to wider oppressive structures, which comprise of gender, class, race, ethnicity and age (Connidis & McMullin, 2002, p. 562; McMullin, 2000). These sets of interlocking social relations assign greater privilege to certain groups of people over others. On an empirical level, Finch and Mason conclude that women’s excuses for opting out from family commitments are less readily
acceptable and are seen as less legitimate compared to those of their male counterparts (Finch et al., 2003, p. 110). The two authors conclude that divergent family commitments emerge as women and men negotiate their relations with their relatives divergently (Finch et al., 2003, p. 174). But, why do women and men have differential success in the negotiating process? The success of individuals in family negotiations depends on their extra-familial options, or as Agarwal calls them fall back positions, which determines how well they will fair if intra-family cooperation fails (Agarwal, 1997, p. 4).
This literature review has shown the male bias implicit in macroeconomic thinking; the overwhelming challenges faced by austerity-ridden families in conducting social reproduction activities; and the specific burdens placed on women by EAPs. As the unit of analysis in my project is the family, the intergenerational solidarity paradigm has proved relevant and potentially constructive in filling the gaps of the other two theories. For the purposes of my research, thus, I will merge the relevant principles of intergenerational solidarity, feminist political economy and social reproduction theory in a single framework.
2.2 Merging Social Reproduction Theory and the Intergenerational Solidarity Paradigm: A super-synthesis
As promised, here, I will conduct a super-synthesis of the intergenerational solidarity paradigm (ISP) and social reproduction theory (SRT).
Super-synthesis or meta-theorizing require that thematically relevant concepts from different theories are combined to produce a hybrid theory that is socio-politically pertinent2
(Cairney, 2013, p. 2; Pound & Campbell, 2015, p. 58). The first systematic approaches to theory
2 Meta-theorizing can be linked to the pluralistic approach, often undertaken by scholars in the field of IDS (Mertens et al., 2016). It is important to recognize that pluralism has soared much debate in IDS. The potential weakness of the approach is its presumed notion of ‘anything goes’.
synthesis appeared in the 1980s in the field of sociology (Pound & Campbell, 2015, p. 57). Despite the ontological and epistemological contestation of theory synthesis, this approach has spread to such diverse fields as public policy, international relations and public health (Hellmann et al., 2003; McCarthy & Rhodes, 2018; Pound & Campbell, 2015). Turner has crafted a detailed and systematic approach to meta-theorizing, which entails the following steps: suggesting points of convergence between the employed theories; extracting what is useful and feasible from each; and synthesizing the selected portions into a new, hybrid framework (Turner, 1991, p. 253). Before or during the extraction process, attention should be paid to the weaknesses and gaps in each theory, a procedure I undertook in the context of the literature review (section 2.1). In following those guidelines, I will also pay attention to the intellectual origins of the two theories to ensure the internal consistency of my theoretical framework. Establishing internal consistency constitutes the first step towards overall robustness, which can by fully attained through
coherently operationalizing the key concepts.
As shown from the literature review above, SRT and the ISP stem from different intellectual traditions. I believe, however, that they are amenable to each other thanks to the extensive representation of critical theorists in the latter, who advocate for the incorporation of wider oppressive structures like race and gender in the formal ISP model (Connidis & McMullin, 2002, p. 558).
Tracing compatibility between the key concepts
Turning to each theory’s key concepts, one can identify greater compatibility between the two. Social reproduction entails all the socially necessary work that is performed on a physical, mental as well as emotional level (Laslett & Brenner, 1991, p. 314). Similarly, intergenerational solidarity is defined as the domestic, financial and affective services shared by those connected
through kinship links (Bawin-Legros & Stassen, 2002, p. 243). A point of convergence between the two concepts emerges here: both involve an emotional or affective dimension that occupies center stage in their respective analytical frameworks. The need for internal consistency has motivated me to include the affective dimension in my conceptual scheme. Furthermore, macroeconomic analysis has systematically neglected the emotional labor embedded in social reproduction, as quantifying that type of labor is almost impossible. The incorporation of the affective dimension is also driven by the wish to rectify this negligence.
Moving along, the immediate provision of food and care for the elderly and infirm are two dimensions of social reproduction explicitly referenced in my research questions. At the same time, intergenerational solidarity includes functional solidarity as one of its six dimensions. Individuals and nuclear families fulfill the tasks of food and care provision with some help from the state and/or their extended kinship networks. When the state retracts from the provision of welfare and nuclear families suffer from reduced resources due to higher unemployment rates and decreased wages, it is logical as well as empirically grounded to expect that nuclear families will fill this gap by both increasing their own domestic labor inputs and by relying more heavily on their kinship network (González de la Rocha, 2001b; Preoteasa et al., 2018). I have, thus, opted for the inclusion of these three dimensions in my conceptual scheme, as they are both highly relevant to my research questions and present a point of definitional concurrence.
Employing functional, affectual and associational solidarity is also a way to account for internal family dynamics.
Factoring in for structural forces: globalizing, financialized capitalism and the EAPs
Up until this point, the importance of exogenous factors in my conceptual model has been implicitly touched upon: state disinvestment can affect how families organize and carry out
social reproduction activities. More specifically, SRT centers around globalizing, financialized capitalism and exposes its negative impacts on systems of social reproduction (Bhattacharya & Vogel, 2017, pp. 21–36). The theory’s focus to this exogenous factor hints at its structural orientation. Empirical ISP analysis also focuses on the impacts of economic crisis and state disinvestment on kinship networks (Bawin-Legros & Stassen, 2002; Preoteasa et al., 2018). SRT encourages a structural orientation, while ISP is amendable to such an approach.
For the purposes of my research, I will zoom into the concept of globalizing,
financialized capitalism and select specific policies and the underlying actors involved. I have divided the relevant exogenous factors in two groups: the structure and the super-structure. More specifically, the super-structure entails the EAPs and austerity policies that were designed by Troika. The implementation of EAPs led the Greek state to disinvest from social welfare provision, which here will constitute the structure.
Undertaking a gender angle: the sex division of labor in the productive and reproductive spheres of the economy
To complete the synthesis of the two theories, I will showcase the gender division of labor in the productive and reproductive spheres of the economy, which dictates a gender angle for my conceptual scheme. Marxist feminists trace the origins of gender divisions of labor in earlier iterations of class-based societies. They argue that the provision of the means of subsistence by men during women’s childbearing period and not sex divisions of labor per se have formed the material basis for women’s historic subordination in class societies (Vogel, 2013, p. 147). SRT makes explicit the gender division of labor in the sphere of social reproduction, identifying women as primarily responsible for unpaid, domestic work (Katz, 2001, p. 713). Considering the gender division of labor in the productive economy, austerity
policies’ emphasis on cutting public expenditures disproportionately affects female job prospects due to women’s higher concentration in the public sector (Hozic & True, 2016, pp. 8–9; Rubery, 2015b, p. 716). Additionally, non-standard employment, such as part-time work, is now
prominent. Women in Europe occupy more than three-quarters of part-time jobs, which are associated with low pay and a decline in payment of premiums over time (Rubery, 2015b, p. 720). Empirical ISP identifies the gender division in functional solidarity, explaining that female members of kinship networks provide help in kind for their relatives, which requires their time as well as physical, emotional and mental labor, while their male counterparts usually provide monetary support (Fokkema et al., 2008, p. 64). In line with this argument, when the state retracts from social welfare, female members in kinship networks will be called in to intensify their provision of help in kind.
Elaborating on my decision to undertake a gender angle and not to include gender
division of labor among the concepts, my aim is twofold. Firstly, I hope that my focus on women will become explicit in the way I weave my field research data into a gender narrative for the thesis’ main body. Aiming for full transparency, an indicator like gender division of labor did not fit squarely into my conceptual model during this part of the process and instead of paying lip service to a concept so fundamental to my work, I have opted for a grounded approach to figure out its place in my theorizing and narrative.
Chapter 3. Conceptual model
Six concepts emerge from the above discussion: EAPs, Troika, state disinvestment, the Greek state, social reproduction, with its relevant dimensions of food and care provision, intergenerational solidarity, with its accompanying dimensions of functional, associational and
affectual solidarity. Using my research questions as a guide, I have merged these six concepts and dimensions into the following conceptual map:
The conceptual model: Tracing interrelations between the key concepts
The rest of this section will explain the relations among those concepts as portrayed in the conceptual map. Moving from the outer circle inwards, the signing of the EAPs, as dictated
by Troika, triggered the state’s disinvestment from social welfare. More specifically, the EAPs prompted the Greek government to decrease its social welfare spending; shrink the size of the public sector; and drastically reduce both minimum wages and pensions (Kourachanis, 2016; Petmesidou, 2013). The final three circles, laying inside the structure, represent social
reproduction and intergenerational solidarity. The shaded blue area, where the two circles converge, represents those social reproduction activities fulfilled through the help of the
extended kinship network. The three policies of state disinvestment translate into fewer resources for kinship networks and into less monetary or in kind assistance from the state. Dissecting the three policies of state disinvestment, decreased social welfare spending will exert negative pressures on the provision of care. Moving on, reduced minimum wages and pensions can negatively affect the provision of food. For example, fewer financial resources can mean that families will no longer be able to afford nutritious food or that eating out or ordering in will become unviable, which would automatically intensify domestic labor and decrease leisure time. At the same time, reduced wages and pensions will negatively affect functional solidarity. Lesser financial resources will reduce the ability of kinship network members to provide monetary assistance to relatives. Help in kind might also become less viable, as more and more household members will have to enter the labor force, which will drastically reduce their available time. Overall, the state’s retraction from social welfare in combination with reduced family resources are likely to cause the expansion of the shaded blue area in the conceptual map. The prediction is that more and more social reproduction activities will be fulfilled through the help of the kinship network. While social reproduction activities will still be fulfilled, they will probably be of lesser quality and will strain the internal dynamics of kinship networks, which will manifest through the dimensions of affectual and associational solidarity.
Chapter 4. Research Methodology
To evaluate the conceptual scheme outlined above, a robust methodological framework constitutes a precondition. A careful examination of my assumptions regarding the nature of social reality and how it can be studied and known comprise the foundational block of my framework. Having clarified the ontological and epistemological positions underpinning my methodology (section 4.1), I will delve deeper into the project’s research design, presenting the complete set of research questions and the operationalization table emerging from it (section 4.2). To complete the methodology chapter, I will delineate the relevant data collection and analysis strategies (section 4.3), ending the section with ethical challenges and considerations (section 4.4).
4.1 Ontology and Epistemology
The question concerning what constitutes reality in the context of this project is addressed by applying a relational ontological stance. The latter maintains that the very terms embedded in a transaction derive their meaning, significance and identity from their (changing) roles in that transaction (Emirbayer, 1997, p. 289). This ontological positioning is in line with the processual nature of social reproduction theory, an integral part of my theoretical framework. Additionally, I designed my conceptual model in concentric circles to refute the idea of any one unit being the ultimate starting point for analysis and demonstrate that households and the individuals comprising them are inseparable from the transactional contexts in which they are embedded (Emirbayer, 1997, p. 287).
Guided by this relational ontology and the feminist theories underpinning the
development of my research project, I have chosen feminist epistemology to assess the question of what constitutes valid knowledge in the realm of the unpaid, reproductive economy. The
starting point of feminist epistemology is its challenge to knowledge as objective (Hemmings, 2012, p. 148). Feminists’ counterproposal to objective knowledge is embodied objectivity and situated knowledge obtained through the recognition of our perspectives being partial and our locations being limited (Haraway, 1988, pp. 582–583). Regarding this project, instead of employing statistics and macroeconomic indicators, I have chosen to focus on Greek citizens’ daily, personal experiences as partial and situated mediums through which to understand EAPs’ effects. Prioritizing embodiment and location over transcendence, feminist epistemology focuses on the value of knowing differently and the ability to appreciate the other, rendering them a subject and not an object of inquiry. Feminist epistemology has also been branded as affectively attentive thanks to its consistent attention to empathy and care, which challenge the idea of the researcher as an expert and promote the importance of shared epistemic knowledge from below (Hemmings, 2012, p. 151).
4.2 Research Design Research Questions
The research design for this project has been simultaneously influenced by the
ontological and epistemological considerations discussed above and the specific iteration of my research questions:
How have the three EAPs affected Greek urban families in terms of women’s ability to carry out social reproduction processes and how has it affected intergenerational solidarity within
their larger kinship networks?
1. How has state disinvestment from social welfare affected the social reproduction
processes of:
a. Food provision, and b. Care provision?
2. How have decreased resources and increased needs affected the:
a. Functional solidarity, b. Affectual solidarity, and
c. Associational solidarity within larger kinship networks?
Operationalization Table
To make this set of research questions operational in a real life research context, their key concepts need to be defined and broken down into their respective dimensions, variables and indicators. The following operationalization table aims to attain the aforementioned goals. As well as identify the suitable methodological tools to capture each key concept:
Key Concepts3 Dimensions
(with nominal definitions)
Variables Indicators Methods
State disinvestment
1. Shrinking of public sector
a. Reduction of public sector wage bill
b. Cuts in public sector wages
How did the policies of state disinvestment impact the Greek people? Policy tracing 2. Decrease in social welfare spending
a. Health care and education cuts b. Social security cuts
3. Cuts in wages and pensions a. Cuts in monthly pensions b. The law made it
easier for companies to cut their payroll costs c. Haircuts for monthly minimum wages Social reproduction Food Provision [The type of activities involved in the production and consumption of a meal and the time spend by each individual
a. Types of activities (i.e. ordering in, eating out, food gifts, or choosing, planning, shopping for, preparing, cooking, serving a meal) How many times a week do you order in or eat out? How many trips to the grocery store do you make per week? Time-use surveys and diaries
household member for the successful completion of the task] b. Frequency of activity type c. Time spent by each household member on each activity How long do you spend on preparing and cooking a meal? What factors do you take into account, when planning for a meal (i.e. budget, individual preferences, etc.)? What are your strategies for keeping track of food-related supplies? Semi-structured interviews and participant observation Care provision [The informal provision of assistance to children and the disabled elderly with activities of daily living]
a. Amount and intensity of caring b. Time spent for
caring by each household member
How many family members do you care for? What type of caring activities do you usually carry out? How much time on average per week do you spend performing caring activities? Time-use surveys and diaries Intergenerational solidarity Associational solidarity [Frequency and patterns of interaction in various types of activities in 1. Frequency of intergenerational interaction (i.e. face-to-face, telephone, etc.) 2. Types of common activities shared How many times per week do you have some form of interaction with Semi-structured interviews
which family member engage] (i.e. recreation, special occasions, etc.) member(s) of your kinship network? How long do these interactions usually last? How often? Affectional solidarity [Type and degree of positive sentiments held about family members, and the degree of reciprocity of those sentiments] 1. Personal assessments of affection, warmth, closeness, understanding, respect, etc. for family members 2. Assessments of perceived reciprocity in positive sentiments among family members Semi-structured interviews Functional solidarity [Degree of helping and exchanges of resources] 1. Frequency of intergenerational exchanges of assistance (e.g. financial, physical, emotional) 2. Personal assessments of reciprocity in the intergenerational resources exchange How often do you receive some type of support from your extended kinship network? What type of support? Who provides the support? Semi-structured interviews Research Design
The operationalization table has exposed the intrinsically complex nature of food and care provision processes, which entail multiple, intricate steps. Some of these steps are
performed on a physical level, such as shopping or cooking, while other on a mental level, such as planning for a week’s meals, and an emotional one, such as paying attention to the specific food preferences of different household members and caring for them. Additionally, this project, in line with existing literature, predicts that state disinvestment has exerted multifaceted
pressures on the conduct of social reproduction activities. I have chosen to employ and implement a mixed methods research design to respond to the abovementioned complexities.
Sub-questions 1a and 1b will be empirically answered by looking into whether household members have intensified the labor required for the provision of food and care and whether they have re-adjusted and updated their strategies for the completion of these activities in line with the new reality of state disinvestment. One way to assess intensification of labor is through
measuring the time devoted for food and care provision. An appropriate methodological tool for these two questions could, thus, be time-use surveys (TUS). The TUS has been designed in the modern Greek language and will be distributed to the participants as such. TUS, however, can bear several limitations: they are based off the recollections of respondents, which can lead to over-or-under-reporting; they cannot necessarily account for simultaneous activity; and they operate within a language framework that cannot always distinguish between “leisure” and “domestic work” activities (DeVault, 1994, p. 5; Lentz et al., 2019, p. 305).
While TUS can account for potential labor intensification, they are not appropriate tools for capturing and understanding households’ shifting strategies in light of state disinvestment. These methodological tools are also insufficient for empirically addressing questions 2a,b and c. As made apparent from the operationalization table, the three dimensions of functional,
associational and affectual solidarity are concerned with individuals’ embodied experiences within their kinship networks and their assessments, perceptions of the latter’s members. Semi-structured interviews are employed to showcase lived experiences and food and care provision strategies and bring to the forefront participants’ voices. Like the TUS, the interviews are conducted in Greek. I have also designed an interview guide in Greek to ensure that certain topics are covered. While I have attempted to observe the guide as closely as possible, I have
also let my participants stir the conversation to relevant areas of their interest. To ensure
reliability and the overall robustness of the project, I worked with a research assistant, Irini. Irini assisted me in drafting the interview guide, and proofreading it, as she is a linguistics student herself. It is important to note, however, that some of the food and care strategies might have been rendered invisible, even to those household members that perform them, due to their repetitive and seemingly menial nature. For example, a family might increase its weekly trips to the grocery store to limit wastefulness and thus increase savings. If this strategy seems self-evident to participants, they might not think to report it during an interview.
As already obvious from the previous section, I am utilizing two research tools to capture household experiences in as many ways as possible and for triangulation purposes. That being said, the inclusion of quantitative methods is not aimed at identifying topics of discussion, contextualize the research topic or justify the need for intervention (Martí, 2016, pp. 171–172). I have, thus, instituted a convergent mixed methods research design, whereby quantitative and qualitative data are concurrently but separately collected. After the data collection process, the analysis of the two data sets proceeds separately, followed by the merge of my findings in a single discussion (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011, p. 69). The convergent design looks like this:
During the fieldwork period, I came across the opportunity to incorporate a third research tool: visual arts. Students at the Visual Arts Faculty at the University of Thessaloniki have self-organized in the creative Shoplifters Collective, which publishes the art magazine, Kerozine.
AND
Quantitative Strand • Time-use surveys • Time-use diaries
Collect Quantitative Data • Identify quantitative sample • Collect close-ended data with
research instruments Qualitative Strand
• Semi-structured interviews
• Participant observations Collect Qualitative Data • Identify qualitative
sample
• Collect open-ended data
Analyze Quantitative Data • Conduct descriptive
statistical analysis (Excel or SPSS) Analyze Qualitative Data
• Employ theme development strategies (ATLAS.ti)
Use strategies to merge the two sets of results in a single
During the magazine’s launch party, which revolved around the theme of repression, I admired Markella’s artwork, which portrayed the topic’s gendered dimensions. After several
conversations with Markella and taken aback by her enthusiasm and radical, political ideas, I was propelled to ask her for a collaboration. After reading several interview transcripts, Markella created a digital artwork for the projects cover page.
Units of analysis and response
The qualitative and quantitative data are collected in the second largest city in Greece, Thessaloniki. As I was born and raised there, I have a robust personal network. My choice of Thessaloniki, however, is motivated by another factor: contemporary urban sociopolitical analysis has centered around Athens, where all major state institutions are located. This has resulted in the discursive neglect of other urban centers, especially those located in the north of the country (Papadaskalopulos & Xristofakis, 2004; Χρηστίδης, 2007). The unit of analysis, as dictated by my research questions, is Thessaloniki households and how they have dealt with the implications of state disinvestment. The unit of response, however, is female household
members. TUS are administered to women and semi-structured interviews are similarly conducted with female participants. When outlining my conceptual scheme, I refrained from including gender as a dimension, promising instead to locate women center stage in my analysis. This choice of response unit allows me to collect the appropriate data for crafting a female-centered narrative.
Sampling strategies
The literature review conducted for this project identified a clear empirical gap in
knowledge: the consequences of state disinvestment have not been systematically investigated at the household level in Greece. This empirical gap marks the nature of my project as exploratory,
which is further evident from the formulation of my research questions. The project’s
exploratory nature in combination with the predominance of qualitative methods have motivated me to adopt a purposeful sampling strategy. The aim of this strategy is to select information-rich cases by including individuals that are especially knowledgeable about and experienced with the phenomenon under study (Palinkas et al., 2015, p. 2). To do so, I have devised certain selection criteria, which are in line with the assumptions of my theoretical framework and research questions. Selected household are:
a. Part of the Thessaloniki traditional lower-middle class (refer to chapter 5.2 for greater clarification on the Greek class system)
b. Consisted of at least one child
c. And in close geographical proximity and contact with its extended kinship network. Having picked at least one household that fulfills those criteria, I also engaged in snowball sampling, asking members of that household to introduce me to other households with similar characteristics.
Since the aim of this project is not generalizability and the quantitative methods do not necessarily occupy center stage, I am be seeking to complete a minimum of 10 TUS. The same 5 women that will complete the surveys will also be interviewed. By collaborating closely with a small number of women, I have formed intimate interpersonal relations with them and keep true to my feminist epistemology.
Data analysis
Before commencing into the concrete data analysis strategies, I would like to briefly return to my research design, which consists of three parts: data collection, analysis and merging. I have decided to break the data collection process in two parts. The first stage begins in late
August 2020 and lasts till the end of October, when I will take a 10-days break from field work to conduct a preliminary analysis of the data. The aim of this break is to identify emerging themes and figure out which research questions I should focus more intensely on during the second part of data collection. The second stage lasts from November 2020 till the end of December.
Regarding the analysis of qualitative data, I have decided to record the interviews after obtaining the consent of my participants. The second step in the analysis process is the complete transcription of the recorded interviews. The goal, here, is to transcribe each recording almost immediately after the end of each given interview to better predict the data saturation point. Moving on, I have decided to keep the interview data in Greek and perform my analysis in English. Qualitative research is considered valid when the distance between the meanings as experienced by the participants and the meanings as interpreted in the findings is as close as possible (van Nes et al., 2010, p. 314). My choice of ontological positioning dictates that one’s location within the social world influences the way they see it. Consequently, the act of
translation also forms part of the knowledge production process, and if performed here, it would add an extra layer of interpretation to my original data (Temple & Young, 2004, p. 164). From a sociolinguistic perspective, such identity markers as age, gender, and socioeconomic background manifest in one’s language choices. My age, education, and class background are likely to create a sociolinguistic divergence between the participants and myself. The validity of a complete translation process would, thus, be seriously diluted by my identity markers and their linguistic impact. For purposes of reliability, however, I have drafted short summaries of each interview in English and translated select quotes, which will also appear in the analysis chapters.
Subsequently and with the help of ATLAS.ti software, I am analyzing the transcripts to identify key themes, which help structure my project’s main body. With the help of Excel, I am conducting a descriptive statistical analysis on the data obtained from the TUS. To merge the two data sets, I have locate content areas represented in both and compare, contrast and/or synthesize the results in a single discussion section.
4.4 Ethical Considerations
I have decided that when first contacting a participant, I will do so through a phone call, which feels more personal than a text message or email. As the conduct of interviews is my priority during the fieldwork period, I will make my personal schedule as flexible as possible for my participants, avoiding, however, the conduct of more than one interview per day. Informed by feminist ethics of care, I do not wish to exhaust myself and I hope to grant all of my
interviewees equal and clear headspace. Recognizing the specific constraints of the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequently strict lockdown in Greece, I will give my participants the option to conduct the interview online, over the phone or in person. For those participants for whom meeting in person is a possibility, I will offer to go over to their house or meet in a public place, such as a café. When going to a participants house, I will bring along a few, assorted, tea
pastries, as that is customary in Greece and a sign of thankfulness.
When first meeting a participant, my first objective is to delineate in detail the scope and purpose of my project in a language tailored to them. The second step is to obtain their oral consent and clearly iterate to my participants that they have the right to stop the interview at any point or refuse to answer any question. Cognizant of the power dynamics sometimes manifested between the interviewer-interviewee couple, I will remain vigilant throughout all my interviews for non-verbal signs of discomfort, such as decreased eye contact, prolonged silence, stuttering,
as queues not to continue with a certain line of questions. Additionally, I plan to inform my interviewees that I will anonymize their personal information and give them the option to have any of their quotes not referenced in the final product. These initial steps at the beginning of each interview are meant to create a trustworthy, transparent environment, where my interviewees feel comfortable to share their experiences and knowledge in confidentiality.
Instead of jumping immediately to the questions prepared for the interview, I first wish to strike casual conversation with the participants. For those interviews taking place in August and September, for example, I could ask my interviewees about their summer vacation. I will let this casual portion of the interview to flow naturally and last as long as possible, simultaneously remaining respectful of my participants’ time. This casual portion will enable me to get to know my participants better, whilst uncovering shared experiences and commonalities. Having covered all the subjects in my interview guide, I will give participants space to add any information they deem relevant to our discussion. Such strategy stems from the recognition that my interview guide is not exhaustive of all relevant topics and most importantly that my participants are experts on the subject under study. Considering my snowball sampling methods, I will ask each participant at the end of the interview if they know any women, befitting my selection criteria, they could introduce me to. Finally, I will distribute to each participant a TUS, explaining its different components and how to fill it out. I will set a specific date with each woman to fill out the TUS, and the following day, I will pick it up. This way, I will definitely meet all participants at least twice, which will allow me to forge a stronger connection.
The chapter on methodology has discussed at length my ontological and epistemological positioning, the research design, the data collection process and ethical considerations. As the
project revolves around a concrete case study and the fieldwork will take place in a specific location, Thessaloniki, the methodology should also be context-sensitive and driven.
Chapter 5. Research Context
The preceding chapters have laid the theoretical foundations for the study of state disinvestment and its effects on urban families. My intent, however, is to engage this topic empirically, and I have, thus, selected a case study. The choice of Greece is motivated by a fundamental reason: at the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis, Greece was the first country to receive comprehensive EAPs by the European Troika (8. Enter the Troika: The European Commission, the IMF, the ECB, 2020). This chapter will first review relevant economic events in modern Greek history, hoping to set the stage for the forthcoming empirical study. This brief overview will showcase that the 2008 economic crisis and subsequent EAPs are not unique instances in Greek history. Rather, these events complement the larger historical pattern of Greece’s socioeconomic dependence on Western powers. Even though I do not intend this chapter’s first part as an exegesis of the crisis and its causes, I do hope to expose the relevance of foreign dependency to Greece’s current economic predicament. Popular narratives have
attributed the 2008 crisis to the clientelism and inherent corruption of the Greek state and to the deleterious spillover effects of the global financial crisis. This chapter with its alternative narrative wishes to complement the aforementioned ones to present a fuller portrait. Having outlined the general economic trajectory of Greece (sections 5.1), the chapter’s second section will zoom-in to the development of urban centers, as they are the specific location of my
fieldwork (section 5.2). Thanks to the gendered nature and focus of this project, the next section will discuss the status of women in Greek society (section 5.3). Having developed a working
understanding of the research context, the final section will briefly introduce the 16 women interviewed for this project (section 5.4).
5.1 The Greek economic trajectory: A path filled with dependency and indebtedness
In 1830, just two years prior to becoming an independent state, Greece received its first emergency loan from British and French creditors, amounting to FF 60 million (Conte & Ginammi, 2016, p. 52). Despite an 1843 memorandum of understanding, enforcing draconian austerity measures, the two creditors occupied the port of Piraeus to lay hands on customs revenue levied in the port (Toussaint, 2016). In 1856, an agreement was reached, allowing for a deferral of payments, but Greece defaulted again in 1860 (Conte & Ginammi, 2016, p. 53).
During the Trikoupis premiership, Greece made its first steps towards industrialization and bet heavily on military spending to feed its expansionist outlook. To finance these policies, Greece received six loans between 1879 and 1893, totaling FF 659 million (Kinley, 2018). By 1895, the country’s debt had increased to 210 per cent of the GDP and Trikoupis declared bankruptcy. Thereafter, the Great Powers with Germany in a leading role established an
‘International Financial Commission’ for Greece, which de facto governed the country’s budget till 1936 (Reinhart & Trebesch, 2015, p. 16).
The two World Wars further devastated the precarious state of the Greek economy. When German forces left, in October 1944, Greece was counting unfathomable losses, including
415,300 dead citizens (Nachmani, 1990, p. 491). The ensuing Civil War caused further loss in both human and material capital. When the Marshal Plan was introduced, in 1947, its aims were twofold and in direct clash with each other: reconstruction and geopolitical security (Stelios Zachariou, 2009, p. 305). The Marshall plan dictated a disproportionate military budget to thwart the Communist threat, which acted as a deterrent to development (Stelios Zachariou, 2009, p.
303). It further applied strict conditionality and tight surveillance mechanisms, demanding restrictive macroeconomic management (Pagoulatos, 2003, p. 28). Towards the end of the Civil War, the U.S. committed only limited financial assistance and more technical support, arguing that the performance of the Greek economy could not be salvaged through large-scale foreign funding. The declining American financial help raised a new question: How would the Greek economy and the state budget overcome its reliance on foreign help and attain development? (Kazakos, 2001, p. 76).
The first step was the devaluation of the drachma by 50% vis-á-vis the U.S. dollar, in 1953, which was accompanied by stabilization reforms aimed at boosting entrepreneurship and private investment (Drakatos, 1997, p. 203). In accordance to the recommendations of Professor Varvaresos, special attention was paid to the housing construction business, which an updated legal framework allowed to bloom. The industry’s links to other sectors, such as cement, iron metallurgy and timber, proved conducive to the overall economic growth (Pagoulatos, 2003, p. 37). The 1960s and ‘70s witnessed a large state-backed expansion of tourism and an incredible rise in remittances as a percentage of the GDP (Pagoulatos, 2003, p. 81). Greece, however, remained a developing country that lacked in productivity, infrastructure, size of businesses and degree of openness to international markets (Kazakos, 2001, p. 192).
In 1972, the Greek economy entered another period of destabilization that lasted well into the 1980s. After seven long years of military rule, Greece returned to liberal democracy under the rule of center-right party, New Democracy, and witnessed a staggering resurgence in public debt and inflation levels (Kazakos, 2001, pp. 307–311). In 1981, Greece became a member of the European Economic Community (EEC) under the premiership of populist leader, Papandreou. On the verge of bankruptcy, the Papandreou government called on the solidarity mechanism of
the EEC to access community loans that amounted to $1.75 billion (Conte & Ginammi, 2016, p. 64). Shortly after, the government initiated a two-year stabilization program (1986-1987). The plan’s austerity measures dictated the devaluation of the drachma by 15% and a cut down in real wages and public investment (Kazakos, 2001, p. 387). Continuing down that road, Greece received an additional $2.9 billion between 1985-91 from EEC subsidies. Consequently, the public debt rose from 23 per cent of the GDP in 1980 to 73 per cent in 1990 (Greece National Debt, 2019).
When the Mitsotakis government came in power, in 1991, it implemented yet another stabilization program (1991-93) with the backing of the EEC. The plan is now largerly
considered a failure, as by 1993 inflation rates were up by 14%; the GDP growth rate was again negative; the unemployment levels had climbed up to 10%; and government spending had increased by 49% (Kazakos, 2001, p. 461). In preparation for membership in the Eurozone, Greece implemented two convergence programs, which pushed for structural reforms and privatizations. The programs were of limited success, as the public debt remained sizeable and the state deficit never dropped below 3 %. Despite its failure to meet the Maastricht parameters, in 2001, Greece became the 10th country to join the Eurozone (Story et al., 2010). Between 2000
and 2006, Greece received monetary assistance amounting to $16 trillion from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). During the 2000s, Greece faced a similar dependency to ERDF like it had in the 1950s with American aid (Kazakos, 2001, p. 529).
For nearly 200 years now, Greece has been receiving hefty loans from an array of foreign donors, which are usually proceeded by stabilization packets and austerity measures. This modus operandi has not yielded particularly fruitful results, condemning Greece to poor economic performance and to limited financial and political autonomy (Reinhart & Trebesch, 2015, p. 16).
Neither consecutive Greek governments nor their foreign donors, however, seem to have learnt from these mistakes. Acting in an arguably myopic manner, in 2010, Troika opted for a similar economic prescription, the EAPs, which exposed the rigidity of the international organizations involved.
5.2 Urbanization and the formation of the traditional lower-middle class
While the preceding section sketched the contours of Greece’s economic trajectory, this section will focus on the development of urban centers, as they constitute the microstage of my fieldwork. It is, at this point, imperative to circle back to the 1950s and 1960s, as they constitute
the origins of several sociopolitical and demographic trends that can explain urban development and the formation of the Greek, traditional, lower-middle class.
In 1929,the Greek
government passed Law 3741/29 [nomos antiparochis], which authorized the exchange of building plots for apartments in the condominiums to be built upon that land (Pagoulatos, 2003, p. 37). The legal framework was intended to create lower-priced housing and tackle urban overcrowding, and came into effect again after the end of the civil war. The subsequent expansion in construction projects partly reflected and partly pushed further the phenomenon of Greek urbanization (Beaton, 2020, p. 359). Greeks, in unimaginable pace and numbers, started leaving their rural hometowns to settle in Athens, Piraeus, and Thessaloniki.
Consequently, the
over-Picture 2: While the urbanization project was largerly completed by 1960s, some neighborhoods are still expanding to serve the needs of Thessaloniki’s ever-increasing population
