Greece from Junta to Crisis: Modernization, Transition and Diversity

Winner of the 2021 European Society of Modern Greek Studies Book Prize
Shortlisted for the 2022 Runciman Award

The recent economic crisis in Greece has triggered national self-reflection and prompted a re-examination of the political and cultural developments in the country since 1974. While many other books have investigated the politics and economics of this transition, this study turns its attention to the cultural aspects of post-dictatorship Greece. By problematizing the notion of modernization, it analyzes socio-cultural trends in the years between the fall of the junta and the economic crisis, highlighting the growing diversity and cultural ambivalence of Greek society.

With its focus on issues such as identity, antiquity, religion, language, literature, media, cinema, youth, gender and sexuality, this study is one of the first to examine cultural trends in Greece over the last fifty years. Aiming for a more nuanced understanding of recent history, the study offers a fresh perspective on current problems.

Dimtris Tziovas is Professor of Modern Greek Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK. He is the author of The Other Self:Selfhood and Society in Modern Greek Fiction (2003), editor of
Re-Imagining the Past: Greek Antiquity and Modern Greek Culture (2014) and Greece in Crisis: The Cultural Politics of Austerity (2017).