Gabriella Lazaridis

“Us” and the “others”: Ethnic minorities in greece

Abstract Research findings concerning two ethnic minority groups in Greece focus on employment experiences of Albanian migrant workers and the type of tourist who chooses to “go native” in this host society. It is argued that although both these groups are found in low-paid occupations, the Western “tourist-worker” is treated more favorably by the host country than the Albanians. The latter not only experience exploitation and discrimination in employment but are scapegoated in various games played in the political arena. The paper shows Albanians trapped in conditions of inferiority, immobility and ultra-exploitation, as substantiated by ethnographic data collected during fieldwork in two Greek cities.

Trafficking and Prostitution The Growing Exploitation of Migrant Women in Greece

This article concentrates on the rapid growth of trafficking in women from Eastern and Central Europe who end up working in the sex industry in Athens. Such movement of people is constituted around global networks of female labour. The social processes and mechanisms that produce and reproduce the somatic and social exploitation of female migrants caught in the web of the sex industry are analysed. These processes are responsible for a continuation and accentuation of women’s loss of power to represent their interests, to seek viable economic alternatives. The living and working spaces of these women rest upon their isolation and individuation and total control of their everyday activities. Ethnicity, age and racialized exclusions all intersect with sexist relations and practices within Greek society and the ethnic communities under study. The interplay of these processes operates differently within different ethnic groups of women to produce different outcomes.

Immigration to Greece: a critical evaluation of Greek policy.

In the light of the EUs interest in the movement of labour within the Union, the first part of this article looks at the character of Greek migrant labour with the aim of providing an overview of changes in the flow of migrant labour into Greece and of the policies adopted in relation to immigrant labour. It discusses the failure of the Greek government to formulate strategic measures to combat illegal immigration...and the limited (if any) efforts being made to aid the integration of Albanians. The second part of the article concentrates on [the experiences of] Albanian migrant labourers in Greece....[It] also assesses the similarities and differences in the employment positions of Albanian men and women in Greece and the way in which mechanisms of marginalisation differently affect these two categories.

Albanian and Polish Undocumented Workers in Greece: a Comparative Analysis

This article deals with the migration of undoc umented workers from Albania and Poland to Greece. Its underlying assumption is that mi gration from the former post-communist countries to Greece is not a homogeneous phenomenon, thus allowing for a distinction and comparison between the migration waves from Poland and Albania to Greece.

Undocumented migrants in Greece: issues of regularization.

n This article studies migration from Albania to Greece and schematically looks at the socioeconomic integration and/or exclusion of Albanians. It explores the issue of regularization: first, using the game-theoretic framework, it provides an explanation for the choices made by the Greek government; second, it outlines efforts made towards the regularization of undocumented migrants in Greece. In an effort to explain the Greek government choices with the regards to the regularization of migrants, a number of possibilities or outcomes of both regularization and non-regularization, which depend on the relative magnitudes of payoffs to employers and government were established. Attempts from the Greek government to regularize migrants include passing a framework law specifying procedures for regularization. This law, if successfully enforced, will increase the cost of labor to Greek firms; and if implemented in the years to come, the regularization rate may be low because migrants are given only a temporary status. In addition, there is a possibility that the required procedures would not be followed properly. Moreover, the absence of political debate has not helped ease continued foot-dragging in dealing with an issue so critical for Greece. This has contributed to Greece being seen as unofficially encouraging illegal migration so as to keep wages down and boost economic growth.n

Sexuality and its cultural construction in rural Greece

Abstract The paper focuses on aspects of gender relations and sexuality in two villages in western Crete (Greece). It concentrates on local ideas about the sexuality of men and women and on the way in which a shift, in values and practices has occurred since the early 1970s, with economic change. The paper suggests that the economic development in the two villages, and the opportunities this has opened up for the women and men who live there, has meant a shift of values and practices regarding sex away from the traditional ‘honour—shame’ ethic.

Highly educated and/or skilled migrants from third countries and self-employment in Greece: a comparison between men’s and women’s experiences

This chapter explores how highly educated migrants from Third World countries come to Greece and, after taking the plunge into low paying jobs in the informal economy, become self-employed. In running a business both men and women struggle against exclusion and towards inclusion, gain control over their work situation (income, work hours) and find emotional satisfaction and self-fulfillment. By comparing migrant women’s experiences to those of men, I show how women, unlike men, experience this not only as ‘survival’ strategy or an action driven by economic necessity embedded within existing economic and socio-political structures, but also as a ‘wish for independence’ or an ‘escape’ from potential abuse and harassment, which in turn harbors important subjective meaning for selfemployed migrant woman. Although it is very difficult to draw a clear cut distinction between value and disadvantaged entrepreneurs, I will show that the women here are to be distinguished in Valenzuela’s (2001, p. 339) terminology as value entrepreneurs, as opposed to the men interviewed who more often fall into the category of disadvantaged entrepreneur.

Arenas of policy making

The key informant interviews aimed at gathering additional information about the relevant policies at hand in national contexts. The key informants are themselves strategic actors in the field and their views and attitudes are not necessarily objective or close to the truth. Experts’ interviews are thus understood as both adding presumably „objective“ data to our contextual knowledge, which includes previously assembled statistical and other data, as well as providing „contested knowledge“, where the expert knowledge of the key informants has to be weighed against the life experiences of the self-employed.