Lia Figgou
Lia Figgou graduated from the Department of Philosophy, Pedagogy and Psychology, of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (A.U.Th). She obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Psychology from the Department of Psychology of A.U.Th. and a MSc in Critical Social Psychology from the University of Lancatser (UK). At Lancaster University she also undertook her doctoral studies and completed her PhD. Her research interests lie in the area of intergroup relations, racism and prejudice, as well as in the field of immigration, integration and citizenship. She is particularly interested in the critical social psychological approach of these topics and in the way in which they are discursively constructed and negotiated. She has been involved in several research projects, funded by national and European funding sources, investigating the above issues. She is a member of the editorial board and ad hoc reviewer of international journals. Her recent publications appear in journals such as the European Journal of Social Psychology, Political Psychology, the Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, Discourse and Society and edited books.
My research interests lie in the field of the social psychology of intergroup relations. A large part of my empirical work focuses on the rhetoric of prejudice and racism in different socio-political contexts, as well as on the social representations of immigration and social integration of immigrant and refugee populations. My recent published work also deals with the institutional and everyday constructions of citizenship and political participation, as well as with socio-psychological aspects of unemployment and job precariousness. I study the topics of my interest using qualitative research methods, and, mainly, using tools and principles of rhetoric and discursive psychology.
Michos, I., Figgou, L., & Bozatzis N. (in press) Constructions of LGBTQI+ rights and claims in lay discourse in Greece: Liberal dilemmas and sexual citizenship boundaries. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology.
Kadianaki, I., Figgou, L., & Kyprianou, M. (in press). Waved and unwaved flags: Nation and sexuality in a social media debate in Cyprus. Nations and Nationalism.
Zisakou, A., & Figgou, L. (2021). Space, time, and urban citizenship: Reconsidering migrant integration in critical social psychological research. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 15(4), e12587.
Michos, I., Figgou, L., & Sapountzis, A. (2020). Constructions of Participatory Democracy Institutions and Same‐Sex Union Rights in Online Public Deliberation in Greece. Political Psychology. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12662
Figgou, L. (2020). Agency and Accountability in (Un) Employment-Related Discourse in the Era of “Crisis”. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(2), 200-218.
Andreouli, E., Greenland, K., & Figgou, L. (2020). Lay discourses about Brexit and prejudice:“Ideological creativity” and its limits in Brexit debates. European Journal of Social Psychology, 50(2), 309-322.
Taht, K., Xanthopoulou, D., Figgou, L., Kostouli, M., & Unt, M. (2020). The role of unemployment and job insecurity for the well-being of young Europeans: Social inequality as a macro-level moderator. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21(7), 2355-2375.
Figgou, L., & Anagnostopoulou, D. (2020). Consensual Politics and Pragmatism in Parliamentary Discourse on the ‘Refugee Issue’. In MA Demasi, S Burke, C Tileagă (Eds) Political Communication (pp. 259-282). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Podara, K., Figgou, L., & Dikaiou, M. (2019). Accounting for organ donation decision-making: Analyzing interview discourse of the donors’ relatives and intensive care unit physicians in Greece. Journal of Health Psychology, 1359105319854147.
Figgou, L., Sapountzis, A., Gorrea, A., & Tzouvelekis, P. (2019). Acculturation as intergenerational trajectory and accountability concerns in immigrant youth discourse. Discourse & Society, 30(5), 465-481.
Andreouli, E., & Figgou, L. (2019) Critical social psychology of politics. In K. O’Doherty and D. Hodgetts (Eds), Sage Handbook of Applied Social Psychology. London: Sage.
Figgou, L. , Sourvinou M. & Anagnostopoulou, D. (2019) Constructing the ‘refugee crisis’ in Greece: A critical discursive social psychological analysis. In S. Gibson (Ed) Discourse, peace and conflict: Discursive psychology perspectives. London: Springer.
Zisakou, A., & Figgou, L. (2019). Space as a resource and implication of (inter) group relations and rights: Analyzing discourse on the refugee issue in Greece. Psychology: the Journal of the Hellenic Psychological Society, 24(2), 150-166.
Figgou, L., & Chryssochoou, X. (2019). Introduction: Political Psychology in an ‘Anti’-politics Era. Psychology: the Journal of the Hellenic Psychological Society, 24(2), 9-14.
Figgou, L., & Baka, A. (2018). Acculturation and intergroup relations in the school context: Τheir constructions in educators’ discourse. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 24(4), 433.
Figgou, L. (2018). Multiculturalism, immigrants’ integration, and citizenship: Their ambiguous relations in educators’ discourse in Greece. Qualitative Psychology, 5(1), 117-134.
Andreouli, E., Figgou, L., Kadianaki, I., Sapountzis, A., and Xenitidou, M. (2017) “Europe” in Greece: Lay constructions of Europe in the context of Greek immigration debates. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology 27(2), 158-168.
Kesisoglou, G., Figgou, L., & Dikaiou, M. (2016). Constructing Work and Subjectivities in Precarious Conditions: Psycho-Discursive Practices in Young People’s Interviews in Greece. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 4(1), 24-43.
Figgou, L. (2016) Constructions of ‘Illegal’ Immigration and Entitlement to Citizenship: Debating an Immigration Law in Greece. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology 26(2), 150-163.
Figgou, L. (2016). Everyday politics and the extreme right: Lay explanations of the electoral performance of the neo-Nazi political party ‘Golden Dawn’ in Greece. In C. Howarth and E. Andreouli (Eds), The social psychology of everyday politics (pp. 206-221). London: Routledge.
Kesisoglou, G., Figgou, L., & Dikaiou, M. (2016). “Narratives οf Flight”: Accounts οf Precarious Employment Relations αnd Emigration From Greece. A Critical Discursive Social-Psychological Perspective. International Journal of Employment Studies, 24(2), 73-91.
Figgou, L., & Pavlopoulos, V. (2015). Social Psychology: Research methods. In J. D. Wright (Ed.-inChief), International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed., pp. 544-552). Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
Figgou, L. (2014). “They are far more than we can absorb…”: Constructions of immigrants and immigration in young people’s discussions in Greece. In K. Deliyianni & L. Chisholm (Eds) Changing Landscapes of Childhood and Youth in Europe (pp. 231-252). Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Figgou, L. (2012). Essentialism, historical construction, and social influence: Representations of Pomakness in majority talk in Western Thrace (Greece). British Journal of Social Psychology 52(4), 686-702.
Condor, S., & Figgou, L. (2012). Rethinking the prejudice problematic: A collaborative cognition approach. In J. Dixon & M. Levine (Eds) Beyond the prejudice problematic: Extending the social psychology of intergroup conflict, inequality and social change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sapountzis, A., Figgou, L., Bozatzis, N., Gardikiotis, A., & Pantazis P. (2012). ‘Categories We Share’: Mobilising Common In-groups in Discourse on Contemporary Immigration in Greece. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 23(4), 271-361.
Baka, A., Figgou, L. & Triga, V. (2012). Neither agree, nor disagree’: a critical analysis of the middle answer category in Voting Advice Applications. International Journal of Electronic Governance, 5(3-4), 244-263.
Figgou, L., Sapountzis, A., Bozatzis, N., Gardikiotis, A., & Pantazis P. (2011). Constructing the stereotype of immigrants’ criminality: Accounts of fear and risk in talk about immigration to Greece. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 21(2), 164-177.
Figgou, L. & Condor, S. (2007). Categorizing category labels in interview accounts about the ‘Muslim minority’ in Greece. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 33(3), 439-459.
Sapountzis, A., Figgou, L., Pantazis, P., Laskaridis, G. Papastavrou, D., Bozatzis, N., & Gardikiotis A. (2006). Immigration and European Integration in Greece: Greek National Identity and the ‘Other within’. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, 3(3), 27-47.
Figgou, L. & Condor, S. (2006). Irrational categorization, natural intolerance and reasonable discrimination: Lay representations of prejudice and racism. British Journal of Social Psychology, 45(2), 219-243
Condor, S., Figgou, L., Abell, J., Gibson S. & Stevenson, C. (2006). They are not racist: Prejudice denial, mitigation and supression in dialogue. British Journal of Social Psychology, 45(3), 441-462.