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Introduction: Greek Parliamentary Elites in Transition (1989–2019) Read chapter Read first chapter

2023 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

3. Mind the Gaps: The Class Dynamics of the Greek Parliamentary Elite

Author : Giorgos Bithymitris

Published in: Parliamentary Elites in Transition

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

This study examines the occupational dynamics of the Greek parliament in tandem with the major shifts that the country’s class structure underwent within the last thirty years. Building on previous studies on stratification on the one hand, and the analysis of the occupational profile of the Greek MPs on the other, this chapter provides an outline of the gaps in representation and the continuities between crisis and pre-crisis patterns. Notwithstanding the persisting over-representation of those with higher levels of cultural and economic capital, there are signs, albeit mixed, of a more encompassing direction: rise of white-collar occupations, miscellaneous jobs (professional politicians included) and occupations related to the personalization of politics (journalists, artists/athletes), but also persisting misrepresentation of the manual working class. The different use of networking between manual/non-manual workers and the professionals is highly relevant here: among working-class MPs trade unionism is a much more expected networking resource than kinship. From a democratic representation perspective, this finding draws the attention to unexamined effects of the prolonged trade unions’ decline in Greece. The relatively low levels of public sector jobs have also been observed and commented in brief. Shifting the attention to the backgrounds across party lines, the analysis pinpoints the following remarkable trends: the ‘similarization’ process of SYRIZA’s occupational profile, the predominance of liberal professions among the conservative MPs, the consistent working-class profile of the Communist Party, and the proletarianization of the Extreme Right.

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previous chapter Gender, Representation, and the Politcs of Exclusion: Or, Who Represents, Who Is Represented, What Is at Stake?
next chapter Revolving Doors Between Journalism and Politics: A Comparative Approach to Traditional and New Professions in the Greek Parliament
Footnotes
1
I consider it major, not because its relative size, which is small, but because of its disproportionate access to power resources.
 
2
The big size of the traditional middle class in the study of Economakis et al. (2015) stems from the inclusion of the agricultural strata to this class.
 
3
This is mainly due to the designation of the low-educated unemployed to the working class in the analyses of Aranitou and Sakellaropoulos, as opposed to the analysis of Economakis and associates.
 
4
I have excluded from my own analysis of the LFS data the military, those in agricultural jobs, and the non-respondents.
 
5
In the earlier stages of democratic development in Europe, the legal profession had played a role contributing to what Cotta and Verzichelli (2007) described as ‘proto-professionalization of politics’: ‘Lawyers had some of the skills that could help them to play the representative role in an age of weak party organizations and the flexibility in their working schedule that made them available when politics was a part-time job’ (Eulau & Sprague, 1984 cited in Cotta & Verzichelli, 2007, p. 428). Accordingly, the decline in the weight of lawyers is attributed to a more advanced stage of professionalization of political life (Cotta & Verzichelli, 2007, p. 428).
 
6
For those MPs without information on education, the assumption is that they lack a university degree. In the symbolic market of the Greek society such credentials are highly valued, and therefore it would be rather unexpected for an MP to ‘hide’ it.
 
7
Only in prominent cases (i.e. historical party executives, leaders, etc.) they have been recorded as professional politicians.
 
8
For a comprehensive discussion on why and how to analyse disaggregated classes, see the seminal neo-Durkheimian analysis of Grusky and Sørensen (1998).
 
9
The entrance of lower middle-class and working-class backgrounds in the parliament was even more salient in the double elections of 2012 and 2015.
 
10
Generally, trade unions differ from other bodies of interest representation (such as Technical Chambers, Economic Chambers, and the like) at least on one crucial aspect: union membership is not obligatory for someone who wants to exercise a profession. In the case of the dataset used, participation in a professional Chamber is considered indication of union participation, but this hardly affects my argument. Contrariwise, if we apply a narrower definition of employee’s representation the unionization of the professional groups is further diminished, while the unionization of the manual and non-manual workers remains intact.
 
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Metadata
Title
Mind the Gaps: The Class Dynamics of the Greek Parliamentary Elite
Author
Giorgos Bithymitris
Copyright Year
2023
Book
Parliamentary Elites in Transition

Print ISBN: 978-3-031-11693-3

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-11694-0

Copyright Year: 2023

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11694-0_3