5. New Words, Old Patterns: Political Discourse and Documents on Poverty and Social Exclusion in Greece

In this chapter, the authors review the political discourses and documents on poverty and social exclusion before and after the outbreak of the crisis. Before 2010, there were only rare and generic references to such issues in political discourse. After the eruption of the crisis, references to these issues have increased significantly, while new terms, like ‘humanitarian crisis’, have entered the political vocabulary. However, both the increased references and the new terms employed have been typically used in the context of communication strategies aiming to increase political polarization and capitalize on the anger and frustration of suffering Greeks. All in all, the pre-crisis patterns of political discourse on issues of poverty and social exclusion do not seem to have changed substantially, in qualitative terms, during the crisis.