StUdi di SoCiologia, 3 (2014), 261-280

Solidarity in timeS of CriSiS: emergent PraCtiCeS and

Potential for ParadigmatiC Change. noteS from greeCe

When joy is shared, it is multiplied;

when sorrow is shared, it is lessened.
(greek folks saying)

2014 Vita e Pensiero / Pubblicazioni dellUniversit Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

i - introdUCtion

this article explores citizens initiatives in setting up groups in order to provide

relief on a solidarity basis in greece. it aims at understanding some of the processes
involved by which the current organisation of social relations gradually undergoes paradigmatic change.
Since 2009 greece has been severely affected by the world inancial crisis that was
initiated in Unites States of america in 2008 by the bankruptcy of the private bank,
lehman Brothers. the ongoing crisis poses an existential threat to millions of people
in greece, the same way it does in other South european countries. a high rate of
unemployment, about 27%, combined with government austerity measures result in
a highly diminished income for millions of citizens; in practice the crisis and its effects
denote that about 3.5 million of people are often unable to meet their daily subsistence
costs and other costs related to housing and health, such as a mortgage, taxes, electricity bill, and medical care (see elStat 2013; eurostat 2013).
Scientists, journalists, politicians and lay persons talk about devastating effects of
the crisis others compare living conditions as though lives in a war zone. metaphors,
euphemisms and other tropes of language abound in describing the current phenomenon, called crisis, in an attempt to picture both the acute deterioration of living conditions as well as the lack of perspective for the immediate future.
the government, a coalition of political parties oriented to right and centrum ideologies, only helps to secure credibility that greece will pay back its debt. in doing so,
austerity measures together with the increase in taxes have been considered as the only
solution to deteriorating economic recession. these measures constitute a recipe that
even by the international monetary funds is considered to be lawed.
Pointing to the onset of the crisis seems relatively easy; the end however is at the
moment of writing not yet visible, though there are some signs of economic recovery.

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Public debate wonders about the next steps in order to restart the economy, while
citizens have taken initiatives a couple of years ago and started setting up groups in
order to offer immediate relief, for instance, from starvation to hundreds and even
thousands of people in their neighbourhood and beyond.
many commentators of the mass media as well as political analysts have criticised
greek people and blamed them for massive apathy, for not reacting or not revolting against the government. at a closer look, during those years, 2010 and 2011, many
citizens were busy in setting up groups in order to offer immediate help to their fellow
citizens. later, during 2012, and especially in 2013, groups and organisations involved
in offering help and relief to those in need were made visible to the general public
by mass media coverages and relevant websites on the internet. this kind of citizens
response to the crisis, that is, voluntary setting up organisations and being sellessly
involved in various solidarity actions and activities is astonishing and impressive.
it is astonishing, for in our highly individualistic society no-one expects people to be
mobilised for the survival needs of their fellow human beings, to such a wide extent,
instead of closing in to ones narrow circle of family and friends.
the phenomenon of the above mentioned extensive citizen participation in solidarity organisations is generally described as the emergence, resurrection, revival of civil society or as resilience1 (see Bourikos 2013; Bourikos - Sotiropoulos 2014).
in social sciences, citizen activation and participation in civic organisations have been
termed as citizen mobilisation (tilly 1973), and civic engagement (Putnam 2000).
in greece, during the current crisis, citizens are mobilised and undertake a variety
of actions, which are named solidarity. furthermore, solidarity groups, committees,
and organisations, both formal and informal, vary to a great extent and some of them
even showcase the possibility to organize social relations on a different basis. here,
i am referring to the emergence of the alternative economy or social economy
movement in the context of which socio-economic relations are organised on a fairer
and more egalitarian basis than the current socio-economic capitalist relations.
the main questions posed in this article are, In what manner is solidarity expressed
in times of crisis? Do the emergent practices carry the potential for a paradigmatic change
of the current organisation of social relations? the answers are based on the research
indings from the ongoing study on solidarity in greece which continues as long as
the crisis lasts focusing on exploring the variety, the extent, the forms and the meaning of solidarity activities to volunteers and its implications for society at large (see also
kantzara 2013, 2014).
the concept of solidarity is multifaceted denoting in sociology both the voluntary
actions and the effects certain humans actions have on society. in sociology, it is not a
surprise that solidarity is conceived as the main ingredient of social relations and ties.
in turn, social ties have as a function to sustain and reproduce communities as well as
larger collectivities, such as a society is.

1
the term resilience came up in recent social sciences conferences in europe (see e.g. http://
ecpr.eu/events/Paperdetails.aspx?Paperid=20290&eventid=14).

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in the text that follows, the concept of solidarity is discussed drawing on sociological approaches; next, i describe solidarity activities and organisations in greece; and
before the main conclusions, the discussion of some of the research indings attempts
to answer the question of potential paradigmatic change.

ii - aPProaCheS to Solidarity

the word solidarity originates from latin: the word solidum means the whole
sum, and the neuter solidus means solid (see www.merriam-webster.com). today, the
concept solidarity is understood, irstly as an alliance between individuals or groups on
the basis of a common interest; secondly, solidarity denotes extending a helping hand
to those in need as an act that is integral of being a human being; thirdly, solidarity may
mean different things to different people, but it is essentially conceived as mutual help
and support in dificult and trying circumstances, unconditionally and irrespective of
individual or group differences.
the theoretical and political interest in solidarity derives from the realisation that
the survival of society largely depends on the degree according to which mutual aid
and support are institutionalised. the modern welfare state in the western world is an
example of an institutionalised form of social support provided in the name of solidarity (Stjern 2004).
in sociology, the founders of the discipline theorised on the constitution of society, a collectivity consisted of individuals, but surpassing them in many ways (see also
kantzara 2006). in the context of unravelling the structural elements of society, mile
durkheim, in france, as it is well known argued that a society is constituted by a division of labour and a consciousness collective. Society as a reality is sui generis and
it is held together by mechanic or organic solidarity that characterises its division
of labour. the concept of mechanic, according to durkheim, points to homogeneity between the people, while organic implies a great degree of differentiation that is
characteristic of modern societies, who according to the metaphor of the time function
independently as the organs of an organism to accomplish the function of the whole
(durkheim 1893/1984; ritzer 2000). the way durkheim employs the concept of solidarity is closer to the latin origins of the word than to todays use.
Before durkheims approach, august Comte also a founding igure, was concerned
with social order and described the importance of altruism in sustaining society; the
word altruism comes from the french autrui meaning other people and from the latin
word alter. Comte coined the term altruism that for him meant consequences of actions
that beneit another person and not oneself2. Comte thought that women were behav-

2
it is alleged that friedrich nietzsche did not particularly favoured altruism, for he considered
it a practice that goes against the principle of self-determination, which was or should be the goal of
the individual. Conceptions on altruism have inluenced other areas of social theory, as for instance in
moral theory the notion of consequentialism, which means that something can (or should) be judged
according to the consequences it has (see the lemma on altruism in the encyclopaedia Wikipedia).

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ing in altruistic manner, because they were obedient and benevolent towards others
when performing their duties; this is the reason he gave women an important, albeit
secondary, role to play in his plan of ameliorating society (see ritzer 2000: 95).
max Weber in germany employed the notion of solidr (solidary), and
distinguished between two different kinds of solidarity in social relations:
Vergemeinschaftung (communal relations) and Vergesellchaftung (associative relations), drawing on tnnies distinction between Gemeinschaft (community) and
Gesellschaft (association). the irst term, Vergemeinschaftung, denotes the more
direct relations between individuals that are accompanied by feelings, as for instance
of togetherness and belonging; the second term denotes relations between individuals that are more distant as, for example, those expressed in organisations and associations (Weber 1922/1968: 40-43; Van oorschot - komter 1998).
the aforementioned three authors, founding igures in sociology, approach social
ties and refer to solidarity as a form of bonding that keeps society together. Solidarity
expressed in the above mentioned terms create social ties that in a sense bind individuals to the whole that is a collectivity of a smaller or a larger scale (see also Crow 2002;
Stjern 2004; Van oorschot - komter 1998).
later, the concept solidarity took a different turn closer to todays conceptions,
that is, as alliance or coalition between individuals and groups providing mutual aid
and sharing resources. these conceptions are based among other on marxs notion of
fraternity or brotherhood. marx did not use though the term solidarity nor deined the
aforementioned terms exactly in his writings, according to Stjern (2004), but implied
these in many instances. the famous by now slogan workers of the world, unite
points to the possibility of an alliance on the basis of a common interest, a class interest,
which is vital in securing both sustenance (mutual help) and a necessary coalition in the
struggle to overthrow capitalist relations of production, which is the aim of political
ideologies and parties inspired by marxs theories.
turning our attention outside sociological approaches, one inds the work of
kropotkin, the aristocrat and anarchist theorist, who attempted to repudiate a
common and misleading to his opinion reading of darwins theory of evolution in
his work, published with the title Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902). in this
book, kropotkin sets himself the task to prove that throughout human history cooperation and mutual help both in animal as well as in human societies have been the
motor of evolution, survival and prosperity rather than isolation, competition or
war. according to kropotkin, survival was not of the ittest, as Spencer had argued
interpreting darwin theory, but of the tribe, group or community that was the most
cooperative. kropotkin surveys, for this purpose, many institutions that regulated
the mutual sharing of vital resources, as for instance land, and examined rights to
property paying special attentions to the group called kabyle3 in algeria, who also

3
the kabyle people refer today to a Berber ethnic group living in the area of kabylie (or kabylia)
in the north of algeria; the group has been subject to many an ethnographic research (see lemma in
Wikipedia).

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commonly possessed a piece of land and therefore they were the only tribe that
did not suffer from famine that broke in north africa (kropotkin 1902: chapter
4). kropotkin also examines an array of customs some relating to hospitality, while
other refer to hindering accumulation of wealth in the hands of one person and still
others regard paying debts back; all this information kropotkin uses in order to provide empirical support to his argument that communities prospered, when they had
succeeded in securing relations of cooperation and mutual aid among its members
(kropotkin 1902).
in more recent years, the concept of social capital has gained momentum in
investigating the reciprocity aspect in human relations and its social implications.
Very briely, Bourdieus conception (1986) shows that social capital is closely related to the class division in society; Putnams approach (2000), in political sciences, indicates that civic engagement is important to sustaining the community; and
Colemans conception (1988) points to the importance of mutual help and support
at various social levels from neighbourhood to the local community. Conceptions
may differ, but all point to the far reaching effects of mutual help and support both
at an individual and at a collective level.
in addition, various other approaches to social relations have shown that
these are governed by norms of reciprocity, though not always expressed in exactly
the same words. an example of this is the custom of gift exchange; it is generally
thought of as being totally free of obligation to return and the most known work to
repudiate this has been mauss seminal approach (1923) (cited in Van oorschot komter 1998). reciprocity has been historically part of norms, as for example the
do ut des norm that meant giving something and aiming at a return in roman times.
this is still a custom today, as nothing is given to anyone else completely for free,
that is without any expectation of some kind of return. however, reciprocity of this
kind is analytically different from doing things for others in order to gain proit
for oneself. the criterion, that is, we need to pose in order to differentiate morally
where personal gain starts and ends is who beneits from actions undertaken (see
note 1).
in a broad sense, social relations, one could argue drawing also on marx, are relations
of exchange; even if what is exchanged varies, including a handshake, a smile, information, money, products, obligations and liberties. Social relations are relations of exchange
in so far as these are accomplished according to the principle of reciprocity that sometimes
is hidden; to my opinion this is the reason that Blau on his famous work on the subject,
argued that not all social relation fall under the category of exchange, strictly speaking
(Blau 1964: 88-97). furthermore, reciprocity (to give back or to return) does not imply that
what is given is equally or proportionately returned. the act of returning, that is reciprocating, is the ingredient upon which social ties and consequently social relations are built on.
georg Simmel, in germany, argued that society can be viewed as being held
together by reciprocity. in his own words: one can look at society in general as a reciprocity of moral, legal, and conventional relationships (1908/2009: 409). according
to Simmel, reciprocity is part of social relations including those of domination and subordination. one could argue then that reciprocity is an integral part of making society

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possible4 under the condition that it creates social ties of interdependence. in turn,
social ties based on reciprocity that bind people together at micro-level contribute to
the observed cohesion in society at a macro level.
moreover, the reciprocity aspect of social relations is accomplished according to
rules that are part and parcel of social norms. one of the rules and norms deining
social relations is mutual help that forms an aspect of solidarity. today it is very common to help others, who live in the same neighbourhood, within a profession or in the
context of belonging to a social movement. Sometimes the question has been posed
about the importance of help social movements offer to their members, inding for
instance housing or a job; this help is liberating one from depending on family resources or state welfare services. the examples so far refer to a normative but informal institutionalisation of solidarity that structures society.
today, it is generally considered that people feel less the need to be solidary and help
others, because of extensive individualisation, which is a precondition of consumerism.
Whether this assertion is true or not is dificult to answer, though some authors, as for
instance Van oorschot (2000) argues that expressing solidarity has not decreased but on
the contrary citizen involvement in civic organisations has increased. to my view, forms
of expressing solidarity have considerably changed; some of them have expanded due to
the use for instance of new communication technologies and at the same time they have
become more anonymous; though you may use your name, you do not know personally
anyone in the case you sign a petition from a long distance; for example organisations that
collect signatures to support petitions on the internet, like aVaaz or all oUt, should
be considered not only a different form of organising opposition, but also diverse forms
of showing solidarity and sympathy to a cause at an international level. another example
refers to the open source software on the internet, available to anyone, or the encyclopaedia Wikipedia that is written by many and addressed to everyone having access
to the internet. to my view then there are many forms of mutual help that extend from
charitable to non-proit secular organisations.
moreover, solidarity points to group ties, as member allegiance implies alliance between them. feelings of belonging as well as certain norms and rules regulate the relations between group members and contribute to group cohesiveness.
additionally, if we take into account that solidarity is part and parcel of every group
formation then we should include illegal practices of groups that typically distance
themselves from dominant moral norms and practices, as for example criminal
organisations. thus, we could place in the same line workers, elite, fascist or maia
solidarity. expressing solidarity is in other words not per se positive and morally
sound. this aspect was raised by Stjern, who in his work on the history of the concept, emphasises that if solidarity has to have a desired and benevolent effect on
society needs to meet moral requirements (2004: 3). in this text, i take into account

4
Simmel posed the famous by now question how is society possible? paraphrasing kants
question how is nature possible igured in the title of his article (1910), in american Journal of
Sociology, 16(3): 372-391.

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and focus mainly on solidarity actions that are inclusive rather than exclusive and do
not discriminate between, for instance greeks, and foreigners.
today, it is quite common to refer to solidarity as: inancial, political, parochial,
intergenerational, social, fragmented, marital, conlictual (melucci 1985), or conditional solidarity (Van oorschot 2000). these terms show to whom solidarity is directed or
owed and whether it is subject to conditions of providing it.
historically several resources were shared that related to community sustenance
and were thought outside the realm of individual reach, and consequently, exploitation.
today, the welfare state is mutatis mutandis a continuation of this practice that takes up
services related to citizen welfare and guarantees equal access when managing resources
and goods that are considered public and therefore in need of regulation (Stjern 2004).
Social policy is based on norms and values about equality, fairness and social justice,
which incorporate in every era notions of deserving, returning (i.e. redistributing) and
correcting what one gets or should get. this point however exceeds the limits of the
current frame of inquiry and so i return to attempts to deine the concept of solidarity.
Based on the presentation of the approaches so far, solidarity connotes the following processes:
a. offering or providing help and support (framed in terms of humanity or other
abstract idea)
b. Sharing vital resources with others (beyond ones own family)
c. returning (help as a human, citizen, friend, or an associate one needs to pay
back help received)
d. inclusion and exclusion
furthermore, from the discussion of the different approaches to solidarity, three
essential conceptions are distinguished that point to the aspect of solidarity in relation
to social ties:
a. Social interdependence (framed in structural terms - durkheim - division of
labour)
B. alliance and cooperation: pursuing common interests (marx, Weber - class
interests - associations)
C. Voluntary, selless devotion, committed to collective good that transcends
ones self-reaching out to community (by recent utilitarian conceptions, philanthropic
activities, and social movements practices)
each of the aforementioned conceptions develops its analysis by considering two
aspects of solidarity:
1. Structural: society creates interdependence among individuals, such as a division of labour accompanied by a conscience collective (being socialised into it); and
2. a subjective aspect of fellow feeling being once an integral part of deinitions of society and later abandoned referring to the affective side of humans that
relates them to the groups they are part of; individuals cultivate a sense of belonging, are willing to share their resources, and want to help and support others beyond
the family context. an example here is the sense of offering to an entity that

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supersedes the individual, and refers to humanity, human collectivity or god as we

often heard in our interviews with volunteers, who are being active in the relevant
organisations.
modern societies, which are highly competitive, individual achievement is based
partly on community resources, whether of the infrastructural kind or institutional,
those that are built by and run with community resources and inancing, such as schools, roads, public water supply, public transportation, and communication. actually,
one could argue that a purely personal achievement is a convenient myth; in the sense,
that a person relies to a small or large degree on achievements of predecessors, help
from colleagues and on community resources, broadly deined.
in sum, solidarity is a highly abstract and complex concept, for it refers to various processes both at micro and macro-level, to a host of institutions that cultivate,
promote or hinder the development of social ties as well as to various other parameters
that have to be taken into consideration in order to account for the link between individuals and society as well as for societal cohesion and sustenance. Viewing solidarity
from this angle then one could argue that solidarity is everywhere in society, where
society is, even if it is not always visible.
at this point we turn our attention to the solidarity actions in greece.

iii - exPreSSing Solidarity in timeS of CriSiS in greeCe

3.1. Methodological Concerns

the current study commenced in 2012, when i noticed the extent of citizen
response to the deepening and devastating effects of the crisis on the lives of millions
of people. at the same time i noticed that the provision of help took place under the
name of solidarity.
the term solidarity is employed in the study for two interrelated reasons: irstly, it
is the term used by all formal and informal organisations in greece, even if their actions
could be sometimes better described and understood as philanthropy; secondly, apart
from its political connotations, solidarity is a concept that in sociology and other social
sciences has been conceived as the main ingredient that structures social ties and social
relations (see section ii).
the theoretical framework of the study is based on sociological approaches to the
concept of solidarity. a working deinition is a follow: solidarity is help and support
provided to those in need without exceptions that refer to ethnicity or other social
divisions. the study follows the basic tenets of Grounded Theory Approach (see glaser
- Strauss 1967) combined with the perspective of Symbolic Interactionism (Blumer
1969). a basic premise of the latter is that meaning is an important component of
human relations; it follows that explaining action involves understanding the meaning
given by individuals (see also kantzara 2014).
the research is being guided by descriptive research questions on the different
kind of organisations that are involved in provision of help, the extent, the fields these

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are active and the kind of help provided. the mapping of the organisations and the
support provided answers a more theoretical question regarding implications for society at large including the potentiality for paradigmatic change.
organisations involved in solidarity practices are mapped on basis of research on
the internet, noting posters on the streets, and collecting mass media reports (checking
everyday one national daily newspaper), including television and radio news, as well
as personal information. following a snow-ball method of sampling, several in-depth
interviews were taken from volunteers (at the moment more than 20), who are active in
different organisations in various regions in greece.
3.2. Preliminary Findings: Organisations
after about two years of collecting material on citizen initiatives, formal and
informal networks, committees, foundations, cooperatives, and loosely deined groups,
the following questions/criteria emerged from the material at hand that help me to
draw a mental matrix: a. field or area help is provided; b. agency that is engaged; c.
addressed to whom; d. reasons for provision of help; and e. characteristics of organisations.
regarding a. field or area in which help is provided: the most important could be
categorised as follow: subsistence, health, education, and economy, broadly deined:
Subsistence: food items, daily or weekly meals; clothes; shelter. apart from donating, food items are offered for free, especially as an indication of protest by agricultural
organisations but also by other unions and professionals do the same, for instance meat
or ish in the central market of athens during national festive days.
Health: diagnostic tests, medicines, treatment, and vaccination.
Education: free lessons to students (compensatory education, foreign language,
music, sports), cultural activities, writing materials and textbooks (see also zambeta kolofousi 2014)5.
Economy, broadly deined: (a) markets are organised that promote trade without
merchants in between (mesazontes), meaning that producers and consumers are
directly related; in this way, for the consumer the price is lower, while the producer
receives a higher one for his/her products. there is an increasing trend (b) to set up
cooperatives, in production, consumption, goods circulation or in culture, for example,
a cooperative in agricultural products, a supermarket, or a daily newspaper (see also
Papantoniou 2014).
in relation to the second question/criterion on the agencies involved: to my surprise i found that there is a great variety of agencies involved, from the Central government to local government, and from the local citizens group to the main greek airline
company. more particularly, the central government, which actually forms a contradiction, that is, while the government is responsible for austerity cuts that issue the

5
education has been an important focus of the current study (see kantzara V. (under publication)
Solidarity in Education in Times of Crisis in Greece: Forms, Actions, and Social Significance, in hellenic
Sociological association Conference Proceedings, 4th Panhellenic Conference, 12-14/12/13).

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devastating and impoverishing effects on millions of people on the other hand several
ministries are helping a couple of hundreds, or some thousands by offering extra allowances, e.g. for buying heating oil or facilitating paid internships in order to combat
massive unemployment. other attempts as for instance by the ministry of education
focus on inding funding for schools for heating in the winter or lunch in schools where
children faint from hunger. the latter was accomplished at the end only with the help
of private foundations and the Church of greece.
The local government: several city councils have set up a department, named
solidarity: it generally supports a daily provision of a warm meal and together with
professional organisations sets up a social medical centre, a social super market,
and a social pharmacy. the local government provides space and facilities, perhaps
some inancing coming mainly from european Union funds. Some city councils have
granted a few acres of communal land to unemployed families to grow their vegetables (e.g. in aghios dimitrios).
Characteristic is the case described by noussi (2013) in her biographical account
from her post as director of the department of solidarity in the city council of athens. She
studied abroad, as many of greeks done so in the past and still do, and she is a lawyer.
She writes that every day her department prepares meals for about 2.500 people in the
city of athens; the information is impressive as to where the food is being prepared: it is
being cooked partly at the childrens summer camp in aghios andreas, a summer resort
place, and in the kitchen of the adults prison in korydallos, a workers mostly district.
the local government, in a few words, plays a key role in administering, regulating
and setting up networks that provide help and relief; moreover provision of help shows
that almost the whole society is involved: citizens donate food items, medicine, clothing, toys, and textbooks.
The Church of Greece (Christian-orthodox) often together with local government
or professional organisations, as for instance doctors society set up social health centre and provision of food (meals), food packages for families and clothing. the church
also provides space for cultural activities and auxiliary school lessons addressed to
young students. it supports initiatives to collect medicine, with no attached strings to
my knowledge, that is, the church does not ask any compensation in return.
the Catholic Church and other denominations as well as some fraternities (French)
are also involved and collect food and clothes.
Political parties: political parties are involved in a variety of ways. Some of them
have helped the setting up of groups at local level, as well as they have set up management structures to coordinate groups that operate at local level. i am referring here to
parties in the left side of the political spectrum. many initiatives at local level in cities
were set up by political partys members or associates. these groups however are open
to non-members; the links between the local groups to the political parties, whose support in organisational terms is important, are not obvious, nor in any way made clear
except from the slogans on their information material, such as lyers.
Professional organisations and unions: a host of organisations are involved, for
instance teachers, doctors, workers, pharmacists unions are all engaged by setting up
a centrum in various places in which they volunteer or they support previously existing

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ones. organisations also collect materials, from food to medicine ad hoc or at more
regular basis.
Companies and business corporations: there are busy being involved and advertise
their solidarity actions under the motto of social accountability. these include a wide
variety of companies, small and large, and from supermarkets to airline companies.
even public companies, like the electricity, telecommunications and water companies
advertise themselves being involved in solidarity actions, while for example the main
electricity company is responsible of an estimate of 30.000 cuts per month for people
and families that are unable to pay the exorbitant bills (these are exorbitant because a
housing tax has been added to the bill, which is ruled as illegal by supreme court but it
is still continued to be levied in 2014)6.
Mass media companies: television, radio, and newspapers showcase, advertise
and report on solidarity actions and they also initiate some themselves.
Nongovernmental organisations (ngos): they existed before the onset of the crisis
and now are busy in providing help and relief in the areas of subsistence, medical care,
and childcare. the ngos are addressed to homeless, drug addicts, and to asylum seekers or refugees.
Local groups, at a neighbourhood level and city council level: have been set up
to provide daily food, but also courses, kindergarten facilities or simply setting up a
social kitchen that is cooking every day meals and offer it for free to those in need
(see also daskalopoulou 2014).
Alternative groups and other collectivities (food, shelter, courses): some of them
were active before the onset of the crisis, but in the meantime have been increased.
Cooperatives (old and new): activating, especially womens cooperatives (previously existed and amounted to 141) who produce traditional food and clothes. new
cooperatives have been set up in agriculture, media (newspaper, publishing house),
and consumption (see also Papantoniou 2014).
Alternative networks of exchange: several have been set up exchanging goods and
services without the use of a common currency, such as money, but using other units,
such as beans, or time; in the meantime not only in greece the bitcoin as a means of
payment has become famous on the internet.
Foreign embassies: for instance, the turkish and the russian embassies support
the provision of free lessons in their respective languages to students.
last but not at all least, citizens take part not only in the above mentioned groups
and organisations but are also part of ad hoc committees, and informal groups or networks at the work loor and at a neighbourhood level. in my acquaintance and friends
circle almost everyone i know is being involved in helping others in a variety of ways,
but most importantly with food, clothing, and money.

6
in the case just mentioned, civil society has reacted immediately reconnecting the electricity
selectively only to those households that are in need. information on how to reconnect electricity appeared on the internet as well. Some of the citizens involved were arrested by the police and
brought to court; but justice prevailed and they were cleared for their actions.

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regarding the third question-criterion: c. solidarity actions and practices are

addressed to:
Youth: pupils-students: primary and secondary education-students with disabilities
Poor families, including nouveau poor (middle class, and unemployed)
Older people (with low or without any pension)
Greeks and foreigners (sometimes only to Greeks, unfortunately)
People with no shelter and/or with health problems
Solidarity actions are addressed to everyone in need, sometimes only to greeks,
or only to foreigners (e.g. greek language lessons). actions of fascist party at public
places that were addressed only to greek nationals, who by showing their identity card
could count on a shopping bag full of food free of charge, has been condemned and
later it has also been prohibited by a court decision.
regarding the fourth question-criterion about reasons (organisation) portray as to
why they want to help. organisations and alternative groups often use the following
phrases on their lyers and/or websites: help and support is offered for reasons of
relief, and alleviating suffering; by doing so they extend a helping hand to the
fellow citizen, aiming at teaching a lesson to younger generations on the value of
solidarity; some want to resist and overthrow the government and the government
measures, or aim at creating a more just and better society now.
from the above answers one can discern a continuum in the conception of solidarity, from relief and alleviating suffering to changing society. organisations that are
supported by professional unions, church, local interest groups or companies emphasise the irst part of the continuum while alternative groups aiming at societal change
underline the political aspect of solidarity.
the ifth question-criterion i posed above referred to e. the characteristics of
organisations and groups. here, i sketch some of my indings:
groups and organisation have a formal and informal character, that is, these are
legal entities, strictly speaking, such as foundations, societies, cooperatives, or informal,
that is without a legal status. especially citizens committees are informal groups.
the latter have been clearly set up by citizens in order to provide help in time of crisis
at a local level. there were many ngos previous to the onset of the crisis as well as
organisations that were active in a variety of activities from environmental issues to
child care. Some estimate the latter up to 500 organisations all over greece before 2009
others to more than 1000 (Bourikos 2013; Bourikos - Sotiropoulos 2014).
in addition, especially the last two years, groups and organisations that call themselves alternative and those that practise alternative economy have also increased.
in the respective sites on the internet one can read that these groups or collectivities as they call themselves are organised on the basis, of self-organisation, control
and management. they aim at resisting domination and want to create a fair society
where relations are based on equity and not exploitation. additionally, they have a
vision of a better and more just society, and try to put this in practice at present time.
the variety of organisations and groups is immense, one may argue about a slippery diversity (gilbert 1998). even a simple overview touches upon theoretical matters, regarding the various connotations of the concept solidarity. Secondly, it is dif-

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icult to know how many organisations are active at the moment: at irst glance, there
are hundreds of groups and organisations, if not thousands all over greece (see www.
solidarity4all.gr). Several talk about more than 2.500 initiatives. for sure, the alternative groups and organisations that are active in the ield of economy have multiplied.
following the organisations for the last couple of years i could discern that these
went a number of phases: irst, setting up, followed by stabilisation and if succeeded
then follows an expansion of services provided; for example, irst active in food collection, next setting up a collective kitchen, and later organise free auxiliary lessons for
students or cultural activities for children.
in the meantime, groups managed to establish regular communication with other
similar organisations in other areas (i.e. networking). as expansion of social economy is
realised, the networking becomes possible at a larger scale, also through social media
and the use of the internet.
during 2013 beginning 2014, solidarity is expanding, more sites appear on the
internet, networking is intensiied, some research has been published and more and
more economic activities are being set up on the basis of alternative or social economy.
last i even saw small business to being set up or other activities such as making ilms
on basis of crowd-funding, that is, generating funds through the general public. this
kind of funding is being realised outside formal inancial institutions, such as a bank.
thus, important institutions that support the capitalist relations of production are
beginning to be substituted to a large extent.
3.3. Preliminary Findings: Volunteers
in general, from the interviews taken and from texts on lyers and websites, volunteers reason their involvement as follow: they want to offer to those in need, and
do something in practice, in order to help those who suffer; others want to resist
apathy, or go against the tide, or they try to organise now the society they envisage for the future, or to send a hopeful message, to give a lesson in courage, to
empower, to do politics at practical level, because they themselves were once
helped and now it is time to return, and many more reasons that underlie a feeling of
being part of a collectivity and one ought to reach out and help those in need.
from interviews and personal visits to structures (i.e. organisations) of solidarity, it becomes all the more clear that their involvement constitutes an empowering
experience. Volunteers realise the potential they have, for example, to get things going,
to do something and not sit home expecting something to be done by somebody else.
especially in leftist and alternative groups the feeling of empowerment is the most
important outcome of their participation in solidarity structures and the daily running of the organisation they themselves helped setting up.
Volunteers perceive their work as going against the stream of austerity or cuts
and various measures taken by the government; the only measure for them was the extent
of human suffering and the only valid question has been how to alleviate it, to make it less,
while keeping intact the dignity of all those in need; thus, volunteers argued no cutting
in help provided, no austerity in looking very strictly and formally, who deserves help,

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at least not the way the modern welfare state is doing: for example, a poor family may
obtain some food items free of charge from the social grocery under the condition that
the income does not exceed the 5.000 euro a year, when it is well known that even with a
bit more than this amount is almost impossible to live decently.
from my visits to organisations and talks with volunteers, i noticed, as many
volunteers argue too, that mostly women are volunteering, and the majority is aged
between 50 and 60. moreover, part of this generation studied at the University during
or just after the junta, the dictatorship in greece (1967-74). Some of them had some
experience from the students or union movement, but most of the volunteers said to
me that they do this for the irst time and thats why they go step by step. Some
other volunteers stressed to me that to organise the collection of food, the cooking and
the serving or allocation and disposing is another kind of doing politics; it is a body
to body politics, which is at a totally different level than going to demonstrations or
going on strike and this kind of politics he admitted that he never practised before in
his life but that he inds very important in order to change society to the better (discussion with a man, psychiatrist, about 50 years old, april 2014).
a last word should be added about the use of the term structure, denoting
organisation in the greek context. i pondered about it and to my opinion the underlying reason for the extensive and emphatic use of the word structure is to give a
permanent and steady basis to activities of solidarity that often are characterised by
impermanence (Crow 2002).
in sum, various groups and organisations are active in the ield of subsistence,
health, education and economy in order to provide help and relief. groups and organisations are continuously being set up and this movement led by volunteers slowly but
steadily make a difference to all those fellow citizens who are in need, while shaping
perhaps the future of society.

iV - diSCUSSion

the concept solidarity means, as we explained in section ii above, structural interdependence, political alliance and voluntary (more or less selfless) actions.
in structural terms, nearly every person living in greece is involved in solidarity
(also those who live outside and come for tourism or buy greek products), especially
if s/he continues to work, consume, and uses the bank; for structurally each citizen by
living in society and participating in it contributes to the sustenance of the collectivity.
taking the other two aspects of solidarity, alliance and voluntary actions, solidarity practices indicate that civil society is mobilised in a variety of ways; they also show
that customs, ethos and rules regulating mutual help have not vanished from society.
the variety of activities indicate that we could better conceive solidarity as a continuum,
from simple acts of providing help, relief, to organising social relation on a more egalitarian basis according to principles of social justice and fairness.
the societal implications however of this extensive citizen mobilisation at least
twofold: emancipation and potential for paradigmatic change.

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275

many volunteers get a sense of empowerment never felt before, as they daily
become more active, resourceful and effective, bringing about change to themselves
and to all those in need. for the volunteers, solidarity as a term denotes providing
help, relief and hope to others, beyond ones immediate family or close friends network. in particular, solidarity means reaching out to all those who suffer and at
the same time organise help further usually together with the fellow citizens, who are
helped in the irst place.
Citizens see that they make a difference. they actually change society from bottom up. the variety of the purposive actions, the institutions that are being set up go far
beyond alleviation and providing immediate relief. additionally, by substituting state
welfare services, citizens in general realise the source of the malaise, and the emancipatory potential grows. Parallel to this, the setting up of solidarity networks, extensive
cooperation and the beginning of organising relations of production and consumption
on a cooperative basis (the social economy paradigm) changes social relations and society from bottom up.
institutions that regulate social relations on a more equitable basis is not a recent
phenomenon; for instance a cooperative can be formally set up within the current context. however today, there is a new language and new terms such as fair trade or
prosumer emerge aiming at depicting the direct and fair relations between producers
and consumers7.
the term social or alternative economy points to solidarity at another level:
fair exchange, organisation and control of production on a participatory basis, giving
preference to small, local cooperatives and produce for securing subsistence instead of
extracting an exorbitant proit (see also moulaert - ailenei 2005).
Paradigmatic change is helped by other factors, such as the current trend in the
western world to support small producers at local level, denoting historically a tremendous circle back to the times before the onset of capitalism and of massive production.
developments such as the above do not grow socially out of thin air, but have several predecessors, such as the political and social movements of the 1960s and 1980s: for
example the human rights, the feminist and the ecological movement. the space does not
sufice nor the aim of this paper is to go deeper into the links between history and present.
Several preconditions however have to be met, so that an alternative paradigm
becomes rooted and grows embracing society as a whole. an alternative paradigm
apart from production and consumption issues at a large scale has to solve problems of
long term management of resources, justice and political decision making according to
the principles of fairness and equity it espouses. another important aspect that needs
to be addressed refers to societal continuity: for this reason, living in a society involves
per deinition social control and repression while guaranteeing a degree of personal
autonomy and freedom. a new paradigm has to address this as well. in other words,
it does not sufice to change social structures (for instance of exploitation) to change

7
Castells and his associates devoted a documentary titled Another Life is Possible. Homage to
Catalonia II, available on the internet (www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PqvBp3Qe0s).

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society, without foreseeing the space that has to be given to humans to exercise personal freedom.
it remains to be seen how the above mentioned developments evolve as it is not
clear at the time of writing whether questions and critique have received a persuasive
answer. Whether in the future two different paradigms will be legitimised and sanctioned and function side by side remains to be seen as well. a paradigmatic change
does not happen overnight, but it happens when the current system seems not being
able to solve anymore the problems it creates.
last, the effect of crisis already put a pressure on the welfare state. Just before
inishing this article the government announced its intention to guarantee a minimum
income. it postpones taking the relevant measure, but i am certain not for long.

V - ConClUding remarkS

the subject of solidarity proved to be more complex and more challenging than initially thought. Solidarity is complex and multifaceted and points to the structural elements
that keep society together as well as the subjective side materialised in social relations.
as conclusion, one could argue that the way solidarity is expressed in greece goes
two directions: it sustains social ties and at the same time it helps changing social relations
from bottom up. Solidarity helps citizens survive, while interdependence between and
among them becomes more visible in a positive sense and societal cohesion is retained.
Solidarity as it is expressed in the last couple of years, not only in greece, gradually
contributes to changing society from bottom up, due to the great variety of activities
and organisations involved.
the dominant paradigm to use kuhns terminology is at jeopardy as it does not
seem to solve problems anymore but to create all the more. if a paradigm seem not to
work and not answer the problems that it has created, then a new paradigm is born,
argued kuhn (1970) in his work on scientiic revolutions explaining the onset of a new
scientiic paradigm.
the paradigm advocated by alternative or social economy seem to offer a solution to many of societys problem, such as excessive poverty, pollution, and diseases
if not epidemics in the food chain that all pose existential threats to current and
future generations.
hence, the ramiications of the emergent forms and content of solidarity exceed
by far the immediate social environment within which these take place. at the same
time, the appeal of the new paradigm would largely depend on ways of solving key
relations between repression and freedom that living in a society entails. Part of capitalism allure is that it promises an almost boundless sense of personal freedom and
unlimited success. a kind of paradise but on earth; that this paradise is based
and is extracted from the labour of many who are made to inhabit in hell is not
made obvious. thus, the new organisation of social relations has to deal with the
aspect of freedom, autonomy, on the one hand and on the other with obligations and
responsibilities of the individuals.

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277

if returning to small scale communities is a solution to many of the social problems, the next step would be to answer the question, how to organise it at a larger
scale without making the leading groups or bureaucracy so powerful or so coercive.
Questions that arise here are: How to have the benefits of the division of labour without
having the hazards of the division of knowledge in terms of power imbalance? How to
combine individual autonomy and freedom with consideration for the preservation of the
collectivity that entails a relative coercion? How to organise decision making processes
that combine current models of representations with principles of direct democracy?
if the new social economy paradigm solves some of the above mentioned problems then it will be widespread structurally while possibly adopted voluntarily by
many people. the social economy paradigm is not totally new. actually the alternative
movements, the contracts signed, the solidarity expressed, the bonds created and the
arrangements made, are all based on traditional socio-economic arrangements, those
that pre-existed the onset of the omnipotence of money as a medium of exchange;
contracts promoting sustainable economy, or views on accepting diversity are not postmodern but older than some of the neoliberal thinking would believe.
in short, one could argue that economy is not the base of society, but solidarity is;
today a consideration is being added that the other party does not lose in the exchange,
but receives a fair treatment. Solidarity as a concept shows that the atom is part of the
whole and the survival of the one depends on the survival of the other. Solidarity however has different aspects and dimensions not obvious at irst sight, for social relations
where solidarity resides, seem natural and are taken for granted. Social relations are
however relations of exchange and reciprocity, even if what is exchanged is a handshake and a good morning. reciprocity however has had under a capitalist paradigm
lost its fair proportionality and it seems as though the time has come to change it in
order to provide solutions to long standing social problems that endanger survival of
the species, their collectivities, and the planet humans inhabit.
VaSiliki kantzara
Dept. of Sociology Panteion,
University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens

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