Agency and Accountability in (Un)Employment-Related Discourse in the Era of “Crisis”

Abstract

This study explores the ways in which young people orient to and manage their agency in (un)employment-related discourse in “crisis ridden” Greece. It focuses on data elicited by semistructured interviews with 40 people, aged between 18 and 29 years. Interviews were analyzed by the principles of critical discursive social psychology. Analysis indicated that, in the context of accounting for job loss, participants mobilized the rhetoric of “crisis,” managing to negotiate complaints, without directly identifying a blame-worthy party. In the context of discussing effective job seeking, however, interviewees were concerned to depict themselves as active agents. Paradoxically, success in job seeking was depicted as the result of accepting unfavorable job opportunities. Finally, when participants unfolded their plans to emigrate, unemployment was related to structural flaws of the Greek labor market and “crisis” narratives were contested. Different constructions of agency are seen to reflect the contingencies of both local (interactional) and broader (historical) contexts.