Social identity and mobility in Trikeri
Abstract
Trikeri is an isolated Pélion village with marked insular
characteristics. At the end of the 18th century and the beginning of
the 19th, it took an active part in the development of the Greek mer
chant marine and became one of the important maritime centers in
the area.
Because of its maritime activities, economic and social structures
are based upon the men's departure and the women's permanent
presence in the village community. The institutions of endogamy, of
uxorilocality and of property transmission as well as women’s control
over the household economy and the matrimonial alliances express
thisstate of separation between the sexes. Living in a spatial and tern
poral discontinuity along with the post-marital residence pattern, the
men are mobile also within their own society. Furthermore, village
membership rests upon relations through women who are responsible
for the group’s cohesion.
Most of these structures have been maintained up to now.
Economic activities still depend on the sea but the social hierarchy
has been altered. The wealthy class which emerged in the times of
economic development has been disaggregated. Today, the men's
massive enrollment in the merchant marine results in social uniformi
tyTrikeri remains, as it did in the past, a society whose monetary
economy, dependent on a wider market, guarantees a high standard
of living to the villagers. The presence of money allows the in
habitants to cope with the pressures of modern times. Numerous oh
jects, signs of modernity, are now being integrated into yesterday's
codes of prestige symbols. Nevertheless, the impact of the images
from the outside world conveyed by the mass-media is increasing.
Sailors are no longer ideal husbands in the eyes of the young women,
a fact which generates a tendency towards exogamy. At the same
time, a few families have moved to Volos in order to help their sons
to go through technical schools and a road is being built which leads
to the other Pelion villages breaking Trikeri's isolation. These
changes make Trikeri more and more open to the external world and
lead to a social destabilization.
Article Details
- How to Cite
-
Beopoulou, I. (1981). Social identity and mobility in Trikeri. The Greek Review of Social Research, 191–199. https://doi.org/10.12681/grsr.575
- Issue
- 1981: Numero Special
- Section
- Articles
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