Ο γεροντικός πληθυσμός της Ελλάδας. Στατιστική Ανάλυση (review)

352 Reviews Dionysis M. Frangos, O γεϕοντικός πληθυσμός της Ελλάδας. Στατιστική Ανάλυση. Athens: National Center of Social Research . 1987. Pp. 105. This study provides some basic demographic data on the elderly in order to contribute to the development of policy attuned to the character and needs of this section of the Greek population. In the first chapter Frangos provides data which show that the share of the Greek population who are 65 years old or older has grown since the beginning of the century and is now higher than in other Balkan countries, Spain and Portugal, but lower than most west European countries. After indicating the causes of this development in the second chapter (falling birth- and deathrates and emigration), he analyzes the changing geographical distribution of the older population from 1961 to 1971 in the third. Though in this period the index of aging (the percentual relation between the population of 65 and older to that of 0-14) grew faster in Athens than elsewhere; elderly people still constitute a much larger share of the rural population than of the urban. The fourth chapter treats the family situation of the elderly, and the fifth treats their level of education. Of interest is the fact that though illiteracy decreased considerably overall from 1961 to 1971, it remained high among the elderly (almost 50%), especially among the female population in the rural areas (96%). In chapter six we learn that a decreasing portion of people 65 years or older remain economically active (in 1971 still almost one-fifth), most of them as peasants or in some business of their own. Chapter seven deals with the other side of the coin: the increase in the number of people who withdraw from wage work and who live on a pension. Chapter eight analyzes some data on illness and death (deathrate, cause of death). As one might expect, females are less often under treatment for illness and the deathrate of females is lower than that among their male contemporaries. The last chapter is devoted to policy proposals and does not directly relate to the research findings. Frangos mainly proposes increasing the number of old age homes. He recommends Denmark—which has about 23 times as many of these institutions as does Greece—as an example to be followed. The demographic developments analyzed by Frangos are, in broad outlines, well-known. The concise analysis in this tiny book does, however, provide a useful synoptic statement and there is some attention to the internal differentiation of the elderly by gender, degree of urbanization and region. This study constitutes, however, only a very first step in this field. More specific research, such as on the Reviews 353 changing notions about getting old and care for the elderly, are necessary before adequate policy proposals can be made. Hans Vermeulen University of Amsterdam HelenVarika,HεξÎ-γεϕσητωνΚυϕίων,ΗγÎ-νεσημιαςφεμινιστικής συνείδησης στην Ελλάδα, 1833-1907. Research and Educational Foundation of the Commercial Bank of Greece. 1987. Pp. 308. This book is highly welcome as an important contribution to socio-historical research on women, a type of research which has been rather neglected in Greece. The author has written, from a feminist perspective, an historical study of the changing social position and role perception of women in Greece in the last three quarters of the 19th century—a critical period. After its liberation from Turkish rule in 1830, Greece was trying to define its cultural identity under the impact of western European (modernizing) values, on the one hand, and of traditional, endogenous values, on the other. Varika's objective is not to tell the story of Greek women of the 19th century in general, but to study a specific category of Greek women—mainly those belonging to the middle-strata—among whom there developed for the first time toward the end of the 19th century a consciousness of gender (that is, an awareness of their belonging not only to a biological but also to a social category, p. 24) which in turn helped the formation of a feminist consciousness. Varika's interest was sparked, she reports, by her discovery of the weekly Journal of the Ladies (Efimeris ton Kirion)— the first feminist Greek journal, which for a period of twenty years (1887-1907) under...