The ‘Normalization’ of Young Protestors in Greece

Abstract

During the last decades, the number of demonstrations as well as of demonstrators has significantly increased in most Western European countries. Some scholars support that protesting has become so widespread leading to the ‘normalization’ of the demonstrators. Overall research examining the ‘normalization thesis’ of street youth protest by analyzing representative datasets is extremely scarce. The chapter by analyzing youth-over-sampled survey data collected as part of the EURYKA project examines key socioeconomic determinants in participating in demonstrations among Greek young adults aged 18-34 years old. Greece is an exceptionally interesting case study to examine the ‘normalization thesis’ of youth protesting as the recent recession and its severe socioeconomic impacts triggered an exceptional wave of protest mobilization where Greek youth was one of the main protest claimants. The findings indicate that the socioeconomic determinants under study, such as gender, educational attainment, income, and occupational class, do not play a significant role in predicting youth demonstrating in Greece. Such preliminary evidence provides empirical support to the ‘normalization thesis’ and accords with related studies underscoring that during the massive anti-austerity protests Greek citizens from a broad range of social strata were mobilized in protest activities.