Southern European Pathways across the Great Recession

The aim of this paper is to define a typology of individual and collective reactions to the Great Recession, which is affecting southern European societies from 2010. Building on A. O. Hirschman’s attempt to frame individual and collective behaviors in response to a condition of decline, the paper maintains that they can be understood mostly in terms of a number of pathways based on different attitudes – exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect. In addition, R. K. Merton’s social strain theory is used to clarify some aspects of the complex relationships between societal and cultural macrodynamics and micro reactions.