Mind the gaps: The class dynamics of the Greek parliamentary elite

This study examines the occupational dynamics of the Greek parliament in tandem with the major shifts that the country’s class structure underwent within the last thirty years. Building on previous studies on stratification on the one hand, and the analysis of the occupational profile of the Greek MPs on the other, this chapter provides an outline of the gaps in representation and the continuities between crisis and pre-crisis patterns. Notwithstanding the persisting over-representation of those with higher levels of cultural and economic capital, there are signs, albeit mixed, of a more encompassing direction: rise of white-collar occupations, miscellaneous jobs (professional politicians included) and occupations related to the personalization of politics (journalists, artists/athletes), but also persisting misrepresentation of the manual working class. The different use of networking between manual/non-manual workers and the professionals is highly relevant here: among working-class MPs trade unionism is a much more expected networking resource than kinship. From a democratic representation perspective, this finding draws the attention to unexamined effects of the prolonged trade unions’ decline in Greece. The relatively low levels of public sector jobs have also been observed and commented in brief. Shifting the attention to the backgrounds across party lines, the analysis pinpoints the following remarkable trends: the ‘similarization’ process of SYRIZA’s occupational profile, the predominance of liberal professions among the conservative MPs, the consistent working-class profile of the Communist Party, and the proletarianization of the Extreme Right.