The paradoxes and mixed record of culture wars in contemporary Greece

In this research report we analyze four recent culture wars in today’s Greece. These were wars over vaccination against Covid-19; challenges to Greek identity by the inflow of migrants and refugees; emerging non-conventional family relations and gender identities which have provoked reactions; and national identity challenges posed by Greece’s foreign relations, including the 2018 Prespes Agreement and EU-Greece relations. Our research was based on available sample surveys, official documents and four focus groups, one per culture war. We claim that cultural conflicts in contemporary Greece have not grown into all-consuming culture wars. They have remained at the level of soft conflicts or tensions. Despite voicing traditional views, Greeks adopt a pragmatist stance on cultural conflict. Moreover, in contemporary Greece such wars have started after initiatives primarily taken “from above”, i.e., by state authorities. In addition, from their outset culture wars in Greece have been interwoven with on-going, political party conflict.