A new paper on analysis of the ways young people in Greece account for unemployment and precarious work conditions in the era of the “economic crisis” has been presented

The “Accounting for unemployment in the era of the “economic crisis: Challenges for political psychology” paper was presented by the EXCEPT Greek team at the Mini Conference of Political Psychology in Southern Eastern Europe, organized by the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP) in Novi Sad, Serbia , 7-9 October 2016.

The study explores the ways in which young people in Greece account for unemployment and precarious work conditions in the era of the “economic crisis”. It focuses on data from 40 semi-structured interviews conducted in Greece under the auspices of a HORIZON 2020 program (Social Εxclusion of Youth in Europe: Cumulative Disadvantage, Coping Strategies, Effective Policies and Transfer, EXCEPT. Participants were aged between 18-29 years and came from urban and semi-urban areas. Interviews were analyzed using tools and concepts of critical discursive social psychology aimed to capture both the interactional functions of discourse as well as its historical contingency. The analysis indicated that participants’ attributions constitute multifaceted argumentative positions that invoke notions of responsibility which; a) are oriented to identity and moral accountability concerns arising in the local interview context, b) are situated within the broader public/ political discussions of the “era of crisis”, c) are related to cultural values attached to work and unemployment and d) have important implications for political participation and agency. Findings are discussed in terms of challenges for political psychology.