Social Support Actions as Forms of Building Community Resilience at the Onset of the Crisis in Urban Greece: The Case of Chania

In the context of the recent global financial crisis Greece has faced an unprecedented recession with devastating impacts on individuals' lives echoed in record unemployment and poverty rates. Greek society has collectively responded by providing social support to those in need through the mobilization of social movement organizations, local authorities, different associations, the Orthodox Church etc. The chapter presents the findings of a study applying the quantitative approach of event analysis and based on a community resilience framework explores social support activity including soup kitchens, free distribution of clothes and other basic products, free health care, educational services in a Greek urban society, i.e. Chania. The results unveil the escalating trend in social support actions at the onset of the crisis and their main attributes as important components in building community resilience. The paper focuses specifically on the support activity of social movement organizations as the most active organizing agency during the period under study. It is recommended that future studies in communities severely affected from economic crises could enhance our understanding in social support actions as forms of building community resilience.

在近年全球金融危机的背景下，希腊遭遇了史无前例的经济衰退，其对民众生活造成的毁灭性影响可从屡创历史新高的失业率与贫困率中窥见。希腊社会随即集体作出响应，通过动员社会运动组织、地方政府、各类社团以及正教会（Orthodox Church）等力量，为有需要的群体提供社会帮扶。本章节呈现了一项研究的成果：该研究采用事件分析的定量研究方法，基于社区韧性（community resilience）框架，对希腊城市社区——干尼亚（Chania）——内的社会帮扶活动展开探讨，帮扶形式涵盖施粥场、衣物及其他生活必需品免费发放、免费医疗服务与教育帮扶等。研究结果揭示了危机爆发初期社会帮扶行动的升级趋势，并明确了这类行动作为构建社区韧性核心组成部分的关键属性。本文重点聚焦研究周期内最为活跃的组织主体——社会运动组织——所开展的帮扶活动。建议未来针对受经济危机严重冲击的社区开展相关研究，以进一步深化我们对作为社区韧性构建路径的社会帮扶行动的认知。