Urban Anthropology

'Manos Spyridakis's ethnography unravels the perplexities of globalisation as Greek workers in banking, shipbuilding and tobacco industries struggle to make their livings in the unknowable spaces between steady work and under-, partial-, informal and unemployment. It is a must for anyone interested in economics, globalisation, politics or people in today's world and required reading for courses on globalisation.' Paul Durrenberger. Emeritus, Universities of Iowa and Penn State, USA 'The Liminal Worker shows how governments embracing market ideology are blinded to the lives of their citizens. Using extensive field research, it shows how making labour "flexible" makes people's lives fragile, upending their plans, their families and their sense of who they thought they were: conscientious and industrious people seeking to lead decent lives.' James Carrier, Oxford Brookes University, UK '... Spyridakis' well-informed ethnography presents a valuable anthropological critique of mainstream economic studies with their emphasis on "rationality" and "free choice".' Social Cohesion and Development 'Interested readers, especially from anthropology, European history, and labour studies, will find an important and compelling ethnography that uncovers the realities of living proximate to, but marginalised from, work stability. Read either as an ethnographic monograph or vis-a-vis extracted chapters, Spyridakis' comprehensive research will contribute greatly to undergraduate and graduate students' curricula and scholarly knowledge on work and its erosion under neoliberal capitalism.' Anthropological Forum 'This research monograph draws on a very rich empirical analysis and provides a multi-faceted picture of the lives of the subjects under investigation. The work provides ample and detailed anthropological narratives on the adversities that the subjects face and the experience of liminality, insecurity and alienation that they are subjected to. ... this is a relevant book both for scholars of European and Greek ethnography and for a wider audience who are interested in the perception of liminality in the periphery of Europe.' Journal of Contemporary European Studies