DEVELOPMENTS OF THE PORTUGUESE ECONOMIC CRISIS FROM 2012: UNEMPLOYMENT CAUSES THE RETURN OF YOUTH TO THE RIVER LIS FIELDS AND TO LEIRIA FAIRS

Abstract

The present study is part of the research work developed during the stage of PhD/2012 in Leiria, Portugal. To do so, it employed several methodological procedures such as collecting data in Fair Leiria, through semi-directive interviews, data tabulation with the "Lexical Sphink Plus" program, mapping and photographic records, among others. The credit crunch, the public debt crisis, rising cost of living, wage cuts, tax increases and high unemployment, have pushed the most qualified young Portuguese for jobs previously considered of little prestige, as working in the field and the marketing of surpluses in the open street. The aim of this study is to contribute to a theoretical debate on the economic crisis in Portugal, and the Portuguese resistance in the struggle for survival and for the traditional spaces of survival: the field and the free fair . Moreover, the return to the fields of Lis River and a greater interest in free trade made evident the worsening of the economic crisis: loss of appetite to consume on credit, greater interest in counterfeits and products of dubious origin or quality found at the fair, more attention to prices, recoil of impulse purchases. Thus, small-scale production in the fields of the river Lis and marketing of surpluses at the fair represent for the population a chance of survival.