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Statism, Social Policy and the Middle Classes in Greece

This article discusses welfare policy and the trends of development of public expenditure and the social budget in Greece in the post war period. Particular emphasis is given to the expansion of income transfers during the 1980s under the conditions of economic recession. An understanding of the relationship between the state and civil society in Greece is crucial for explaining social policy developments. Our analysis focuses on the strong grip of politics on civil society, which constitutes a major aspect of Greek statism and contributes to an increased fragmentation of social demands and conflicts. The main argument of this article is that the growing size and political weight of the middle classes since the mid-1970s intensified social fragmentation and the contradictions of Greek statism, and made it more difficult to achieve any consensus about social policy aims. Public expenditure and the social budget increased significantly during the 1980s, as a result of presstrre from various middle-class strata, yet no major changes occurred in the logic of the distribution of social provision. Competition among the middle classes for access to political power and the state apparatus intensified, and this put severe limitations on the possibilities of any reforms aimed at redistribution on the basis of social need.