The ability to form a complex state is reliant on several factors, the ability to defend oneself from external threats, the ability to trust those within your own society, and the ability to engage with your neighbors (both internal and external) are some of the core ones. Over the past week, my courses examined how the first complex societies in Greece addressed some of these factors, and how the modern world aims to deal with them as well.
With the rise of the Minoans and the Mycenaean civilizations in ancient Greece comes the centralization of community activity. Through the development of central courtyards, these societies develop space for civic, economic, and cultural activity. The space and the activities that they facilitated create more complex social interactions that can delineate class, status, and power. They also create the conditions for dynamics being a host and guest to begin to form. In socially we discussed traditions of hospitality and host-guest dynamics. Within these relations, the Greek context was identified as being power-related, with the host being dominant and the guest being in an inferior position to the host. These relations are designed to welcome the stranger into the home, or the community while disarming them and making sure they are not a threat.
On the Island of Aegina, which we visited over the weekend, we saw an example of why that culture may have been established over time. On the Island, there was a Byzantine village with many churches close to the island’s center. The settlement had moved inwards due to constant raids from pirates around the islands. On the island, we also saw modern-day examples of Greek hospitality, with our taxi drivers engaging and interacting with us consistently. Even More so, they organized other drivers to meet us at the other site we visited, highlighting the tight-knit community between drivers and how they receive and treat visitors.
While hospitality extends to tourists with economic power, less is the case with migrants from other parts of the world seeking refugee status. In my political science class, we discussed how Greece, the EU, as well as the US, engage in the process of securitizing migration as a permanent process. This is the rhetoric used by the media and political elite to deem immigrants a security threat. It is done by characterizing immigrants as violent, as terrorist threats, as a strain on the nation’s resources, and much more. Through this process, two things occur. First, policy responses can become much harsher and more extreme, as it’s not just migration but a crisis that must be stopped at all costs. Second, it builds solidarity and trust within a nation and creates distrust among a population of migrants. No longer are migrant guests to be welcomed in the country, they are threats that might inflict harm on you and your family. Therefore in the modern world trust and hospitality are afforded to some (those with economic means and the right passport) and not to others.
Throughout history, it seems that social trust has been a major component of building and maintaining a prosperous society. Complex social relations rely on having conventions and a way to engage properly with strangers, both those who are outside of your nation and those who are inside of it. These relations determine and shape how our towns and cities look and how we conceive of “the outsider.” Social trust governs all, because ultimately it is what creates the village within the city.