Black Athenians: Making and Resisting Racialized Symbolic Boundaries in the Greek Street Market

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-317
Author(s):  
Max Papadantonakis

In this article, I show how groups and individuals maintain racialized symbolic boundaries at the micro-level of personal interactions. Using data collected during an ethnographic study in Athens, Greece, where I worked as a fruit vendor in a street market, I detail how local Greek vendors and immigrant workers use language, gesture, olfaction, along with their interpretations of faith and sexuality to reproduce patterns of social distance that allow for racialized stigma and discrimination. I apply the framework of symbolic interactionism and draw from literature on symbolic boundaries to explore how immigrant street market workers experience and resist racialization throughout the interaction order. I show that racialization underlies perceptions of the immigrant “other,” especially in the case of Greece where race is often ignored as a crucial factor.

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgia Verropoulou ◽  
Christos Bagavos ◽  
Cleon Tsimbos

This paper examines fertility patterns and differentials between migrant and non-migrant women in Greece using data from the 2001 census on the reported numbers of children ever-born alive by citizenship. Special tabulations produced by the National Statistical Service of Greece are analysed and presented here. The analysis focuses on Greek, Albanian and Bulgarian women born over 1950-1970. Noticeable differences are observed. Despite the fact that Bulgarian women tend to have their first births earlier, their fertility levels are the lowest. Albanian women exhibit the highest fertility while levels for native women are somewhere in between. Nevertheless, the gap observed among the ethnic groups tends, broadly, to narrow over successive cohorts.  


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 761-787 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F. McCauley

AbstractInformal institutions continue to govern political exchange in Africa, but the traditional, ethnic-based form of “big man rule” is now threatened by an alternative informal institution — charismatic Pentecostalism. This study evaluates the status of Pentecostalism empirically, in a micro-level experiment in Ghana. Using data from a variant of the dictator game, in which participants divide a resource endowment with randomly assigned partners as well as cultural leaders, the study provides evidence of Pentecostal exclusivity, excessive allegiance to leaders, and a shift away from ethnic-based patronage to Pentecostal patronage. As Pentecostalism continues to expand, these findings suggest a modification in the exchange of resources for loyalty in Africa, and grounds for viewing the movement as a new form of big man rule in the region.


Author(s):  
Margaret A. Hagerman

This chapter illustrates key connections between the traditional field of symbolic interactionism and the study of racial socialization and racism. When researching and writing about racial socialization and racism from a micro-level perspective, it is important to not lose sight of the mutually sustaining relationship between the shared meaning making processes that unfold in everyday life and the big, broad structures that shape and reinforce those meanings. This is particularly true when thinking about theories of how the newest members of a society, through an interpretive process, come to understand the concept of race. Understanding how children learn about race requires taking into account how this learning process is shaped by both micro-level meaning making and macro-level structures. And this is a key theoretical principle of symbolic interactionism. The chapter then explores how race as a concept develops for young people through processes of social interaction within particular contexts.


2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 801-820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel B. Eisen ◽  
Liann Yamashita

Prevalent cultural representations of masculinity depict men as aggressive, emotionally distant individuals whose hard and muscular bodies epitomize these traits. These traditional representations of masculinity have also been linked to sexism and male dominance, which has encouraged many men to distance themselves from these representations. This study employed grounded theory methods to analyze interviews with twenty-five men about their understanding and construction of their masculinity. The analysis revealed that some men construct a hybrid masculinity by describing themselves as caring or being in touch with their feminine side to create social distance between themselves and men who adhere to traditional representations of masculinity. While men incorporated what they viewed as feminine characteristics into their identities, they reinforced, rather than challenged, the symbolic boundaries of gender and the resulting gender hierarchy. Ultimately, the men in this study were able to co-opt the language of caring to gain more prestige while reinforcing gender inequality and male dominance.


2022 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-192
Author(s):  
Gregory T. Papanikos

On the 31st of December 2021, the euro celebrated its two decades in circulation. Initially, twelve countries adopted the euro as their new national currency, Greece being one of them. Starting in 2020, euro is the official currency of nineteen European Union countries. This paper aims to examine three issues. Firstly, the paper investigates Greek people’s perception about the euro, using data from the recent issue of the Eurobarometer (December 2021). Secondly, the economic performance of Greece is briefly examined by comparing the Greek Gross Domestic Product (GDP) two decades before and two decades after the introduction of euro. Finally, the Greek participation to the eurozone has been a controversial, political issue. The political developments in Greece during the first two decades of the euro are also studied, emphasizing the dramatic political events after the double elections of 2012. The period of the two decades ends with the detrimental impact of COVID-19. This issue is also mentioned by reviewing some recent publications. Keywords: Eurozone, Greece, GDP, per capita GDP, Eurobarometer, euro, elections, politics


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aditya Johri

Purpose – The impressions of others’ expertise are fundamental to workplace dynamics. Identifying expertise is essential for workplace functions such as task assignment, task completion, and knowledge generation. Although prior work has examined both the nature of expertise and its importance for work, formation of expertise impressions in the workplace has not received much attention. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper the author addresses the question – how do we form expertise impressions in the workplace – using data from an ethnographic study of a workplace setting. The author employs a case study of project team formation to synthesize a process framework of impression formation. Findings – The author proposes a framework that integrates sociocultural and interactional accounts to argue that actors utilize situational and institutional frames to socially construct their expertise impressions of others. These frames emerge as actors engage in activities within a community of practice. Originality/value – This practice-based explication of expertise construction moves beyond narrow conceptions of personality-based traits or credentials as signals of expertise. It explains why sharing of expertise within organizations through the use of information technology continues to be problematic – expertise is an enactment and therefore it defies reification through knowledge management.


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-167
Author(s):  
Jakub Niedbalski

This article is based on a study in which the interactions in a sports club between persons with physical disabilities and their non-disabled colleagues were observed. The purpose of the study was to understand and describe the problems faced by sports participants with disabilities when operating within a social, organizational, and physical environment that was not designed for the disabled. The study made it possible to reconstruct how definitions of key notions and situations are developed as a basis for creating and maintaining the interaction order between disabled and non-disabled sportsparticipants. The study used data compiled from open observation of participants and semi-structured interviews. The phenomena were analyzed in accordance with the procedures of Grounded Theory. Symbolic interactionism was used as a theoretical framework in the interpretative paradigm.


Author(s):  
Stilianos Alexiadis ◽  
Stilianos Kokkidis ◽  
Maria Markou

Although there have been numerous studies examining the process of regional economic development using the Shift-Share analysis, the agricultural sector has received far less attention. One important implication of this methodology is the possibility to detect groups of regions with certain growth characteristics. This paper contributes to the literature by applying the technique of Shift-Share over the period 2000-2015 using data for the production of cereals across the 13 regions of Greece. One important conclusion to emerge is that, in the case of Greek regions, applying the taxonomic procedure of Shift-Share analysis, it is possible to identify the necessary policies for the improvement of agricultural production in each region.


2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Einwohner

Most research on the role of identity in social movements treats identity as something that is constructed solely by movement participants themselves. However, participants are not the only actors involved in this identity construction. This article uses basic insights from symbolic interactionism to argue that external claims, or claims made about movement participants by those outside the movement, also shape activists' sense of identity. Using data collected during three years of fieldwork with members of a non-violent animal rights organization, I show how the activists made use of their opponents' depictions of them—in particular, charges that the activists were "overly emotional" and "irrational"—when describing themselves. Specifically, I illustrate two processes by which these external claims left their mark on the activists' identity: identity disconfirmation and identity recasting. More broadly, I suggest that "bringing the outsiders in" to examinations of identity and collective action provides a more complete picture not simply of identity construction but of movement dynamics as a whole.


Public Choice ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Bergh ◽  
Anders Kärnä

AbstractRecent micro-level studies have suggested that globalization—in particular, economic globalization and trade with China—breeds political polarization and populism. This study examines whether or not those results generalize by examining the country-level association between vote shares for European populist parties and economic globalization. Using data on vote shares for 267 right-wing and left-wing populist parties in 33 European countries during 1980–2017, and globalization data from the KOF institute, we find no evidence of a positive association between (economic or other types of) globalization and populism. EU membership is associated with a 4–6-percentage-point larger vote share for right-wing populist parties.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document