Includes bibliographical references (pages 172-177) and index.
Contents:
Astifilia and the Roots of the Greek Crisis -- What is astifilia? -- Post-Ottoman centralisation -- Athens: centre of non-productivity -- Diaspora wealth: colonials in their own country -- The diaspora before the War of Independence -- The education system in the nineteenth century -- The War of Independence and the growth of Hellenism -- From Ottoman control to virtual European protectorate -- Emigration in preference to proletarianisation -- Obstacles and Disincentives to Development in Mystras -- Exodus -- The ethnography and out-migration -- 1980s decentralization -- Mystras -- The higher villages -- Economic opportunities undermined by emigration -- Obstacles and disincentives to economic development -- Olive cultivation -- Under-exploitation of a non-agricultural resource: Old Mystras -- The Archaeological Authority -- Sparta -- Social Relations in Mystras -- Emigration and stagnation -- Education's urban image -- Urban influence a retrograde force -- Kefala: Bucking the Trend -- Kefala in the 1980s -- Background to Kefala -- Earlier relations of production in Kefala -- Olives -- Livestock -- Viniculture -- Maximisation -- The household -- Enterprise -- Social Relations in Kefala -- Gender relations -- Preference for endogamous marriage -- Interpersonal relations -- Provincial Changes from the 1990s: Stagnation versus Prosperity -- Sparta -- Kefala -- Future prospects and the 'crisis' -- The 'Crisis' in Athens -- The public sector -- Debt -- Tax evasion -- Bailouts and the troika -- The state -- Unemployment and pensions -- On the ground in Athens -- Property -- Inequality and allilengii -- Public sector cuts -- Volunteers -- Back in the Provinces: Depopulation versus Productivity.
Summary:
Since the nineteenth century, Greek financial and economic crises have been an enduring problem, most recently engulfing the European Union and EU member states. The latest crisis, beginning in 2010, has been - and continues to be - a headline news story across the continent. With a radically different approach and methodology, this anthropological study brings new insights to our understanding of the Greek crises by combining historical material from before and after the nineteenth century War of Independence with extensive longitudinal ethnographic research. The ethnography covers two distinct periods - the 1980s and the current crisis years - and compares Mystras and Kefala, two villages in southern Greece, each of which has responded quite differently to economic circumstances. Analysis of this divergence highlights the book's central point that an ideology of aspiration to work in the public sector, pervasive in Greek society since the nineteenth century, has been a major contributor to Greece's problematic economic development. Shedding new light on previously under-researched anthropological and sociological aspects of the Greek economic crisis, this book will be essential reading for economists, anthropologists and historians. -- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.