To Hire an “Albanian”: Household Economy and Immigration in Rural Greece

Abstract

The expansion of the European Union into southern Europe calls for a re-examination of the anthropological analysis of rural Greek society. This chapter examines some of the changes that have affected rural households in the Argolida region of Greece, and how households have adapted. It is argued that the household continues to be an important site for constructing relations of production. However, there has been a significant shift from forms of stratification and exploitation based on gender, kinship and patronage to new forms based on nationality and ethnicity. The dependence of households on (mostly illegal) immigrant labor has both subsidized their rising standard of living and trapped them in a new regime of social inequality.

Citation

Lawrence, C.M. (2006), "To Hire an “Albanian”: Household Economy and Immigration in Rural Greece", Wood, D.C. (Ed.) Choice in Economic Contexts (Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 25), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 75-95. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0190-1281(06)25004-2