Children's relational experiences with the financial crisis in Greece

Abstract

When Greece was hit by the global financial crisis in 2009, families with children paid the heaviest toll. In this article, we draw on individual interviews and focus groups with 17 sixth graders, six teachers and six parents at a primary school in the Magnesia region. We use a relational approach to unpacking everyday austerity as it is lived, felt and experienced by Greek children. The empirical material shows how children's well-being is conditioned by the well-being of their families, where emotional stress spills over through witnessing parents' worries. Relational agency enables children to contribute to adversity relief, which seems to enhance not only their well-being but also their resilience, as it is embedded in relations of mutual empowerment and development. Lastly, the study documents how macro policies of austerity measures trickle into the fabric of children's everyday lives and shape familial and intergenerational practices of care and responsibility.