Abstract
The economic crisis brought about significant changes in the country’s social stratification. Sections of the bourgeoisie either disappeared altogether due to bankruptcy of their businesses or were relegated to petty bourgeois status given the contraction of their economic activities, a fact which had led to the growth of the traditional petty bourgeois class. In contrast, some other sections of the bourgeoisie became more prosperous. The new petty bourgeoisie went into decline and, changing employment, former petty bourgeois joined the working class, whose proportional presence in the workforce as a whole increased significantly. The rural sector saw overall contraction in all three social categories (rich, medium and poor rural strata), a development which is judged to have contributed to greater concentration in land ownership.
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Notes
- 1.
For the importance of the role of the Ideological State Apparatus, see Althusser (2001).
- 2.
For why more than nine workers are needed for there to be extended reproduction of capital, see Sakellaropoulos 2001: 170.
- 3.
It should be noted that this calculation is performed to highlight general tendencies, global trends. It could not be considered that every graduate of higher education is to be included in the new petty bourgeoisie class, since there are graduates who perform executive tasks, but clearly the majority belong to this class, due to their intermediate role in production.
- 4.
According to the ERGANI information system, in autumn 2016 there were 233,151 companies, of which 26,121 employed more than nine people.
- 5.
This figure emerges if it is considered that, according to the October 2013 civil service census; there were 48,608 civil servants in positions of responsibility (Head of Service—Director). From the previous analysis could be concluded that the directors belong to the bourgeoisie and the heads of services to the new petty bourgeoisie. As there is one director for three heads of service, there are approximately 12,000 directors in total, to which should be added senior judges, ministerial advisers, high-level academics and national and local government civil cadres.
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Sakellaropoulos, S. (2019). Change in Social Stratification in the Greece of Crisis (2009–2017). In: Greece’s (un) Competitive Capitalism and the Economic Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14319-0_6
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