Precariousness is the new normal: Social reproduction and intergenerational solidarity in families of shipyard workers in Skaramanga, Greece

The proposed project seeks to understand the effects of the contemporary economic paradigm of high-capitalism on social reproduction and intergenerational relationships in Greece as a paradigmatic case of the European South. Through deep qualitative anthropological fieldwork, I will examine how the expected transition of younger generations from dependence to autonomy is being reversed in Greece due to continuous declines in income and the modification of working conditions. This reversal has brought changes in the moral economy of households and an increased dependence of younger generations on public pension funds. The intended research is the first systematic study of its kind that seeks to understand the effects of precarious working conditions on the transformation of life cycle expectations, by going beyond the framework of the economic crisis that hit South European societies. My intention is to examine modes of intergenerational solidarity through analytical tools that contextualize such phenomena in the wider economic and political structures of high-capitalism.