Revisiting the Greek 1980s Through the Prism of Crisis

Online memories of 1980s–2000s lifestyle and consumption politics in Greece during the current economic crisis (2009–2015)

“…It refers broadly to sexual economies, a field much discussed in lifestyle media. Lifestyle’s collapse preoccupied males as its upturn had coincided with shifting constructions of masculinity (Zestanakis, 2016: 258–261), hence a male forum is a particularly relevant source.…”

“…Europeanization developed into a recognizable cultural referent of the country’s identity (Voulgaris, 2008: 336). Before the crisis, Greeks trusted the European Union more than most Europeans – a condition that has recently changed since “consumption utopia” was associated with convergence with Western Europe in terms of life quality (Zestanakis, 2016: 263). This trend culminated after 2002 when, as a Eurozone country, Greece obtained cheap access to loans that the banking system largely channeled into consumption.…”

“…We can identify a change in relations between gender performances and consumption: before the crisis, conspicuous consumption and interest in issues such as fashion disassociated themselves from femininity and were recognized as compatible with modern urban male identities. Recently, such gender performances are increasingly discussed as pathetic (Zestanakis, 2016: 261). Mainly addressed to heterosexual men and replete with web machismo, Bourdela came to associate a pre-crisis interest in consumption with femininity.…”

“…Cars, motorcycles, and modern electronic devices (e.g. VCRs) became commonplace (Notarakis, 2017; Zestanakis, 2016: 257); many (even lower-class) consumers became familiar with lavishness (Papadogiannis, 2015: 288) and expensive entertainment practices such as going out to bouzoukia 1 proliferated (Zestanakis, 2016: 257). Expressing demands for glamor, lifestyle associated conspicuous consumption with emergent Europeanization.…”

“…In Spain, public investment in advertising fell by 39% from €7718 million in 2007 to 4735 in 2011; 197 media enterprises shut down between 2008 and 2012; there were 3247 unemployed journalists in 2008 and 27,443 in 2012 (Gómez, 2012). In Greece, advertising investment reduced by 30.2% between 2009 and 2011 and 55.5% between 2008 and 2013 (Anon, 2014c; Ntarzanou, 2014); many lifestyle media enterprises closed between 2011 and 2013, a fact that preoccupied the public sphere (Zestanakis, 2016: 260).…”