Living Under Austerity: Greek Society in Crisis

Since its sovereign debt crisis in 2009, Greece has been living under austerity, with no apparent end in sight. This volume explores the effects of policies pursued by the Greek state since then (under the direction of the Troika), and how Greek society has responded. In addition to charting the actual effects of the Greek crisis on politics, health care, education, media, and other areas, the book both examines and challenges the “crisis” era as the context for changing attitudes and developments within Greek society.

Table of Contents:
List of Tables and Figures Notes on Transliteration List of Abbreviations Introduction: Crisis and Austerity Aimee Placas and Evdoxios Doxiadis PART I: THE POLITICAL DIMENSION OF THE CRISIS Chapter 1. The "Illegitimacy" of Foreign Loans: Greece, the Great Powers, and Foreign Debt in the Long Nineteenth Century Evdoxios Doxiadis Chapter 2. The Political Consequences of the Crisis in Greece: Charismatic Leadership and its Discontents Harris Mylonas Chapter 3. Golden Dawn: From the Margins of Greece to the Forefront of Europe Kostis Karpozilos Chapter 4. Protest, Elections, and Austerity Politics in Greece Kostas Kanellopoulos and Maria Kousis Chapter 5. From Boom to Bust: A Comparative Analysis of Greece and Spain under Austerity Björn Bremer and Guillem Vidal PART II: STATE FUNCTIONS, THE WELFARE STATE, AND THE ECONOMIC CRISIS Chapter 6. Crisis and the Changes in the Mediascape: Greece and the Globe Franklin L. Hess Chapter 7. Crime and Criminal Justice Policy in Greece during the Financial Crisis Sappho Xenakis and Leonidas K. Cheliotis Chapter 8. The Downsizing and Commodification of Health Care: The Appalling Greek Experience since 2010 Noëlle Burgi PART III: CHANGES IN GREEK SOCIETY AND CULTURE Chapter 9. Gendering the Crisis: Claiming New Values and Agencies Beyond Destitution Alexandra Zavos Chapter 10. From the Twilight Zone to the Limelight: Shifting Terrains of Asylum and Rights in Greece Heath Cabot Chapter 11. Giname Kinezoi! (We've Become Chinese!): Critical Developments in the Imaginary of Chinese Capitalism Tracey A. Rosen Chapter 12. Disrupted and Disrupting Consumption: Transformations in Buying and Borrowing in Greece Aimee Placas Conclusion Aimee Placas and Evdoxios Doxiadis Index

About the Author :
Evdoxios Doxiadis is an Assistant Professor at the Department of History at Simon Fraser University. His research is on Greek, Balkan and Mediterranean history with a focus in the 18th and 19th centuries and a particular interest in questions of gender, law, state formation, and minorities. His publications include The Shackles of Modernity: Women, Property, and the Transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Modern Greek State 1750-1850 (2011), and State, Nationalism, and the Jewish Communities of Modern Greece (2018).

Review :
“Living under austerity is a valid contribution to austerity debates as it furthers comparison across disciplinary approaches…Some of these chapters can be points of reference for future researchers interested in Greece, austerity, crisis, state institutions, and rapid social and institutional change.” • JRAI “Anyone wondering about the effects of austerity—in Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, Africa, or Asia—should read [this book that] assembles scholars trained in anthropology, sociology, history, political science, criminology, and psychology to trouble accepted tropes about the meaning and effects of economic crisis through the case of post-2008 Greece. One of its most powerful contributions is its complication of the crisis framework. The other is its demonstration of the effects of that framework on people actually living in Greece.” • American Ethnologist “Interdisciplinary, multifaceted, and with abundant empirical observation.” • Othon Anastasakis, University of Oxford