The newest volume in the Comparative Charting of Social Change series highlights the main elements of demographic, social, political, and economic development in Greece during the period 1960-2000. Based on a systematic analysis of available information and data, this volume provides an overview of Greece's socio-economic profile, which changed significantly during the studied period. The collapse of the dictatorship in 1974 and Greece's entry into the European Union (EU) in 1980 have led to a consolidation of democratic institutions and the improvement of living standards. During the 1960s and 1970s the country experienced high rates of economic development and relatively low unemployment rates. However, this increase in economic development has slowed since the early 1980s and the unemployment rate has risen, particularly among young people. Consistent with recent social trends in other Western societies, Greek society has become more tolerant and permissive, with more diverse and flexible moral norms. However, the prevailing family model remains traditional and the Greek Orthodox Church continues to have a strong influence on many aspects of Greek society, including social, political, and cultural life. The organization of work also follows traditional patterns, despite the introduction of new and flexible forms of employment. Female participation in the labour market remains relatively low, despite legislation and regulations that promote equality of opportunities between the sexes. Consistent with recent social trends in other Western societies, Greece's population is aging and the birth rate has stabilized at a relatively low level. Contributors include Ioannis Antonopoulos, Dimitri Economou (University of Thessalia), Evi Fagadaki, Thomas Maloutas (University of Thessalia), Alberto Martinelli, Ioannis Myrizakis, Theodore Papadogonas, Apostolos g. Papadopoulos (University of Ioannina), Roy Panagiotopoulou, Apostolis Rafailidis (economist), Paris Tsartas (University of Aegean), Kostas Yannakopoulos. Elisabeth Allison, Dionisis Balourdos, Nikos Bouzas, Kaliroi Daskalaki, Amalia Frangiskou, Emmy Fronimou, Panayiotis Kafetzis, Roxanne Kaftantzoglou, John Kallas, Chrysa Kappi, Maria Ketsetzopoulou, Helene Kovani, Evdokia Manologlou, Joannis Micheloyiannakis, Aliki Mouriki, Panagiota Papadopoulou, Ioanna Papathanassiou, Christos Papatheodorou, Marina Petronoti, Nikos Sarris, Theoni Stathopoulou, Hara Stratoudaki, Haris Symeonidou, Maria Thanopoulou, Olga Tsakirides, Joanna Tsiganou, Christina Varouxi, Efi Venizelou, and Ersi Zacopoulou are all researchers at the National Centre for Social Research (EKKE).

An overview of the socio-economic profile of Greece during 1960-1995.

Canadian society has changed dramatically since 1960. This work captures the scope and range of these changes through a systematic documentation of seventy-eight social trends. The introduction summarizes and locates the major waves of change. The authors then document each trend in relation to eighteen thematic groups that include age, community, women, labour, management, stratification, social relations, the state, mobilizing institutions, social forces, ideologies, households, lifestyle, leisure, education, integration, and attitudes and values. In contrast to many recent works and journalistic reports, Recent Social Trends in Canada concentrates on the trajectory of change rather than on current events. It provides a longitudinal context in which unfolding events can be interpreted in a broader historical and international context. Comparable volumes in the McGill-Queen's Comparative Charting of Social Change series describe similar tendencies in the United States, Quebec, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Russia, and Bulgaria, making it possible to situate the Canadian experience in a global context.

Over the three decades from 1960 to 1990, French society underwent a spectacular transformation due to the baby boom, which was particularly broad-based and prolonged in France and caused the population to climb by a full one-third. At the same time, the French economy expanded and the pace of modernization picked up, with the result that the wealth of the French quadrupled in a single generation. The turning point between the reconstruction and development period and the period of profound social change appears to have been 1965. The baby boom was over by then, and the production system was shifting in orientation. No longer dominated by the growth of basic industries, production was now starting to focus on consumer goods and services.

Between the end of the Civil War (1949) and the colonels' military coup (1967) Greece underwent tremendous political, economic, and social transformations which influenced gender identities and relations. During the same period, Greece also witnessed an unparalleled bloom in cinema productions. Based on the recently established paradigm that cinema and popular culture viewed as social institutions can inform a historical study, Masculinity and Gender in Greek Cinema explores the relationship between Greek cinema and the society within which it was created and viewed. The book's double analytical perspective on cinema and masculinity advances both the study of cinema and popular culture as historical sources, and of masculinity and gender relations as valid categories of historical analysis. Cinema as a medium of representation, not only managed to reflect on these issues, it also provided a whole new field for their interpretation. This is the first study to explore the dramatic transformation of masculinity and gender roles, as represented in Greek cinema during the turbulent 1950s and 1960s.

Contrary to mid-twentieth century predictions, ethnic pluralism has increased dramatically in North America and significantly in Europe. Neither the post 9/11 emphasis on international border security nor anti-immigration and anti-multiculturalism movements have affected the fifty year trend of increasing labour mobility and sustained levels of migration. The ethnic pluralism accompanying this powerful trend has fueled academic research and public debate. Contributors report on and develop a conceptualization of ethnic social incorporation and multiculturalism in Canada, the United States, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria and Italy. This group of countries displays a remarkable variety of both ethnic diversity and public policy responses to ethnic social incorporation over the past four decades. It includes two countries (Canada and the United States) built upon very large-scale immigration over the course of more than a century, two countries (Greece and Italy) which until recently were characterized by large-scale emigration but now are grappling with immigration, one country (Bulgaria) that was until the 1990s insulated from extensive migration and faces a demographic slump, and one (Germany) that has experimented with isolating temporary populations but is now addressing the responsibilities of permanent immigration. Multicultural Variations includes national reports describing each of the six countries under investigation and is book-ended by introductory and concluding chapters that present a new understanding of and synthesis on multiculturalism that is distinct from either enthusiastic support or ideological critiques. Contributors include Mathias Bös (Philipps-Universität Marburg; Germany), Antonio Chiesi, (Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy), Jason Edgerton (University of Manitoba, Canada), Barry Ferguson (University of Manitoba, Canada), Nikolai Genov (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany), Louis Hicks (St Mary's College of Maryland, USA), Paul Kingston (University of Virginia, USA), Laura Maratou-Alipranti (National Centre for Social Research, Athens, Greece), Lance W. Roberts (University of Manitoba, Canada), Sonia Stefanizzi (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Italy), and Susanne von Below (Johann Wolfgang Goethe- Universität Frankfurt, Germany),