article

The etymology of excuses: aspects of rhetorical performance in Greece

American ethnologist • 9 (4) • Published In 1982 • Pages: 644-663

By: Herzfeld, Michael.

Abstract
In this article, Herzfeld examines the similar rhetoric of excuse making used at both the personal and national level. Journalistic accounts of bureaucratic indifference and superpower intervention are couched in personal terms of inhospitality and betrayal that serve to absolve personal blame and instead attribute blame to outside impersonal and malignant forces. According to Herzfeld, excuse making does not express fatalism, rather by drawing on shared understandings it invokes a common identity of Greeks as both citizens and a nation.
Subjects
Ethics
Luck and chance
Ethnopsychology
Ethnosociology
culture
Greeks
HRAF PubDate
2003
Region
Europe
Sub Region
Southeastern Europe
Document Type
article
Evaluation
Creator Type
Ethnologist
Document Rating
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
Ian Skoggard ; 2002
Field Date
1974-1981
Coverage Date
1974-1981
Coverage Place
Greece
Notes
Michael Herzfeld
Includes bibliographical references (p.660-663)
LCCN
74644326
LCSH
Greece