Immigration and European Integration in Greece: Greek National Identity and the ‘Other Within’

Abstract

During the last two decades Greece has become a multicultural society due to the influx of immigrants mainly from the Balkans and East Europe. At the same time Greece became fully integrated to the European Community. Within this context the relation of Greek national identity to Europe and to the immigrant 'Οther' becomes a topic of everyday conversations and a focal point of social scientific research. This study following a discourse analytic perspective (Edwards, 1997; Edwards and Potter, 1992; Potter, 1996; Potter and Wetherell, 1987) attempts to explore the way Greek people construct Greek national identity in relation to immigration and European integration within an interview context. It is argued that participants strategically managed stereotypes about immigrants in order to avoid accusations of prejudice, while stereotypes about the Europeans seemed to be informed by the ambivalent positioning of Greece between East and West (Bozatzis, 1998; Herzfeld, 1987).

Unpacking Young People’s National Identities

“…At the level of microanalysis, a small number of empirical studies in the Greek context has shed valuable empirical light into social actors' representations of national and cultural identity (Bozantzis, 1999;Figgou and Condor, 2006;Sapountzis et al 2006;Figgou and Condor, 2007;Bozantzis, 2009). More specifically, a study of national accounting practices (Bozatzis, 1999) of Greek citizens residing in other EU countries has shown the participants to skilfully manage their talk between being positioned as 'xenophobic' and 'xenomaniac'.…”

“…Bozatzis (2014) in his most recent work on Banal Occidentalism argued about how the national ideological imagery is reproduced via the practice of leveling and disavowal of charges of xenomania. Other studies conducted within the discursive analytic tradition examined the rhetorical aspects and occidental renderings in Greek majority talk in relation to the country's 'significant others', namely Europeans, migrants and refugees Sapountzis et al, 2006;Figgou and Condor, 2007), and the minority population in Western Trace (Bozantzis, 2009). …”

“…Possibly it is the mentality and the way we behave, but also the way they accept you-not accept, to put it better-the way they react towards you; how the other looks at you, gives you a characteristic image of yourself that renders you different in relation to the other, and the difference of other cultures. Well, I don't know whether if I was born in a different country, I would have the same views I have now [pause] maybe not (Helen) This account offers a good example in which there is an evident attempt to distance and inoculate oneself against the charge of racism (Wetherell and Potter, 1992; see also Condor et al, 2006;Figgou and Condor, 2006;Sapountzis et al, 2006). The young woman deflects the racist accusation by proclaiming her belief in equality, arguing for the existence of differences between nations that are relative and context-dependent.…”

“…As a result, they do jobs that Greeks wouldn't do and are not treated well. On the contrary, the French are treated differently than the Albanians, because the Albanians come from a very poor country and we regard them inferior even from us, whereas the French come from a country of highbrow civilization (Stephen) It is worth highlighting the alleged superiority of Europeans, the factual status it acquires and how the latter is sustained by the equivalence between superiority and economic, technological and cultural development (see also Figgou and Condor, 2006;Sapountzis et al, 2006). In the extract above a country and its nationals are viewed and 'measured' against their respective state's level of development and its perceived positioning in the 'imagined' socio-economic, political and cultural pecking order of status.…”

“…More specifically, the present paper enquires into the intricacies implicated in young people's national identities utilizing in-depth interview material collected in the context of the increasingly diverse and austerity-stricken Greek society. Relatively few studies have empirically examined how national identity is conceptualized by social actors (McCrone et al, 1998;Bechhofer et al, 1999;Bozatzis,1999;Condor, 2000;Condor, 2006;Condor, Gibson and Abell, 2006;Kiely et al, 2005;Sapountzis et al, 2006;Skey,2011) and even more limited have explored in qualitative detail the construction of young people's nationhood (for notable exceptions see Anthias, 2002;Jukarainen,2003;Hopkins,2007;Fenton,2007;Miller-Idriss,2009;Stevenson and Moldoon, 2010;Thomas and Saunders,2011). The present paper contributes to this area of literature by shedding empirical light on the nexus of cross-cutting ethnic, religious and cultural identifications and on the role perceived 'others' play in the shaping of national identities of Greek youth.…”