This study explores the ways in which young people orient to and manage their agency in (un)employment-related discourse in “crisis ridden” Greece. It focuses on data elicited by semistructured interviews with 40 people, aged between 18 and 29 years. Interviews were analyzed by the principles of critical discursive social psychology. Analysis indicated that, in the context of accounting for job loss, participants mobilized the rhetoric of “crisis,” managing to negotiate complaints, without directly identifying a blame-worthy party. In the context of discussing effective job seeking, however, interviewees were concerned to depict themselves as active agents. Paradoxically, success in job seeking was depicted as the result of accepting unfavorable job opportunities. Finally, when participants unfolded their plans to emigrate, unemployment was related to structural flaws of the Greek labor market and “crisis” narratives were contested. Different constructions of agency are seen to reflect the contingencies of both local (interactional) and broader (historical) contexts.

中文翻译：

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“危机”时代（非）就业相关话语中的代理和问责

本研究探讨了在“危机四伏”的希腊，年轻人在与（非）就业相关的话语中定位和管理他们的代理的方式。它侧重于通过对 40 名年龄在 18 至 29 岁之间的人进行半结构化访谈而获得的数据。访谈是根据批判性话语社会心理学的原则进行分析的。分析表明，在考虑失业的背景下，参与者调动了“危机”的修辞，设法协商投诉，而没有直接确定应受指责的一方。然而，在讨论有效求职的背景下，受访者担心将自己描述为积极的代理人。矛盾的是，求职的成功被描述为接受不利工作机会的结果。最后，当参与者展开他们的移民计划时，失业与希腊劳动力市场的结构性缺陷有关，“危机”的说法受到质疑。机构的不同结构被视为反映了当地（互动）和更广泛（历史）背景的偶然性。