Seeds for Change : How Greek social movements break with a neoliberal crisis
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2014-08
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en
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Abstract
This thesis is an examination of how the social movements in Thessaloniki, Greece, break
with neoliberal discourses. I address the movements in relation to the 2009 Greek debt crisis
and explore their impact on the members and on society as a whole. I set out the context of
the crisis, Greece’s history and social movement theory to zoom in on the city’s water, food,
and labor movements. Then, I discuss in order: (1) the way the movements are formed in
response to the crisis, the European Union and neoliberalism; (2) how the members of the
numerous initiatives making up the movements experience their involvement as well that of
other movements; (3) the extent to which the agencies of members, initiatives and
movements correspond as well as conflict; and (4) the way these social forces change
Thessaloniki’s socio-economic landscape and whether this can be understood as communal
performativity. I focus on the power struggles that complicate the relations between and
within social movements, as they impair the efforts to cooperate and create networks.
Additionally, I examine the notion of communal performativity as the movements’ power and
ability to break with neoliberal discourses and to bring about societal change. I go on to
argue that discourses, which perpetuate the power imbalances, and performativity, through
which one breaks with these imbalances, are complementary as both concepts treat power as
practice. Defining power as practice sheds light on the way the realms of agency and
structure are intertwined. Finally, I discuss how a commitment to improving the
communication among initiatives can empower the social movements in order to overcome
challenges, to build networks and to enhance their impact on society
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen