Myrto Tsilimpounidi - Sociology of Crisis

Engaging with what follows the scream at the mutilation of human lives by the 2008 global crisis this book presents a lively, urgent and fearless project. Shifting effortlessly between macro and micro scales, and challenging the stranglehold of economic interpretation with intelligent sociological analysis, Tsilimpounidi unpacks the ways in which austerity lives in everyday lives in cities. Probing the new geographies of globalisation and grasping things as they emerge, the Sociology of Crisis is both methodologically innovative and seeks emancipatory solutions. It shows that sociology is vital in understanding the world in which we live today.

Caroline Knowles, Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

In Sociology of Crisis: Visualising Urban Austerity Myrto Tsilimpounidou critically addresses the polyvalent facets of the present crisis economic, social, cultural, migratory, quotidian as a participant observer in a self-reflexive text, written with dedication and flair, and enriched with photographic representations of pivotal moments and juxtapositions. With a view on the relationship between sociology and crises, she presents revelatory detail about her case study, Greece, and then transverses its limits in order to offer theoretical insights on neoliberalism and austerity. In a series of chapters which can be also read separately, she introduces unexpected angles and relates the crisis with visual sociology, with time, otherness, the body, graffiti in urban space, and resistance with creative outcomes. She thus ventures to upset the hegemonic story and to challenge received (and often imposed) wisdom, on the crisis as destruction, viewing it as a condition which sets the momentum for futures yet to be written. This book is a revealing sociological contribution on a topic which is already fuelling debates all over the world, now and for years to come.

Lila Leontidou, Visiting Professor of Cultural Geographies at the University of the Peloponnese, Greece

Visualising urban austerity

Myrto Tsilimpounidi

First published 2017

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2017 Myrto Tsilimpounidi

The right of Myrto Tsilimpounidi to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act? 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Tsilimpounidi, Myrto, author.
Title: Sociology of crisis : visualising urban austerity / Myrto Tsilimpounidi.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016022822 | ISBN 9781138839915 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Sociology. | CrisesSocial aspects. | Social change.
Classification: LCC HM585 .T764 20107 | DDC 303.4dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016022822

ISBN: 978-1-138-83991-5 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-73314-2 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear

I would like to extend my gratitude to many people who were instrumental in getting this volume to publication. It has been a long journey, with many shifts, and I am indebted to all of you. I wrote this book while being a Marie Curie fellow at the Institute of Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. It is a rare privilege to be able to focus on your research and writing and for that I want to thank the Slovak Academy of Sciences for believing in this project and for offering the safety and security of such a fellowship. I would like to thank Miroslav Tizik and Silvia Mihalikova for their constant support and encouragement, and Pavel Suska for making my stay in Bratislava smoother.