ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the ways the seemingly traditional southern European regions, acting as hosts to tourists and as sources of migratory labor for the EC core, may be affected by the increasingly important role of consumer culture in the definition of local Mediterranean culture. This process, in turn, may strengthen and reinforce the peripheral nature of these regions and states within an EC attempting to integrate. The process of completing the internal market (IM) of the European Community (EC) in 1992 and beyond has been perceived as a potential threat by many people in parts of the EC Mediterranean, particularly in Greece, Spain and Portugal, who joined the EC in the 1980s. A number of economic factors contribute to the characterization of the Mediterranean as "periphery." These countries produce "relatively labour intensive products". Anthropological perspectives contribute to a greater understanding of changes in consumer behavior associated with EC membership and integration.
