Download or read book Indebted Societies written by Andreas Wiedemann and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-07-08 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In many rich democracies, access to financial markets is now a prerequisite for fully participating in labor and housing markets and pursuing educational opportunities. Indebted Societies introduces a new social policy theory of everyday borrowing to examine how the rise of credit as a private alternative to the welfare state creates a new kind of social and economic citizenship. Andreas Wiedemann provides a rich study of income volatility and rising household indebtedness across OECD countries. Weaker social policies and a flexible knowledge economy have increased costs for housing, education, and raising a family - forcing many people into debt. By highlighting how credit markets interact with welfare states, the book helps explain why similar groups of people are more indebted in some countries than others. Moreover, it addresses the fundamental question of whether individuals, states, or markets should be responsible for addressing socio-economic risks and providing social opportunities.

Download or read book The Indebted Society written by James L. Medoff and published by Little Brown. This book was released on 1996 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past twenty years, the quality of life for American workers - blue-collar and white-collar, young and old, skilled and unskilled - has gone from reasonable comfort to near desperation. In this brilliantly original and compelling book, two distinguished economists show how this disastrous downward swing can be traced directly to the insidious disease of debt - not just government debt but personal and corporate debt as well. Corporate debt has engendered a downsizing movement that has drained the last vestiges of job security from the workplace. Personal debt has fueled an ongoing consumption binge and, along with government debt, has choked off investment and left America with inferior jobs, low productivity, and an ever-increasing dependence on foreign workers. Worst of all, the debt explosion has spawned a new and dangerous class, the lenders. Backed by a powerful group of apologists in academia, in government, and on Wall Street, the lenders only compound the problem of debt by pushing for higher interest rates and lower inflation, no matter what the cost. In the end, working people, the poor, and the American family pay the price. Authors Medoff and Harless go far beyond a mere diagnosis and analysis of the disease of debt; they go on to offer potent and practical prescriptions for recovery on personal, corporate, and national levels. The situation is growing desperate, as America is ensnared in a vicious circle that leads us deeper and deeper into the red. The Indebted Society is both a dramatic wake-up call for Americans and a realistic program for returning the nation to economic and social health at last.

Download or read book The Indebted Society written by Janet Ford and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-12-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about debt - a situation which affects a large and growing number of people. In Britain alone in 1986 more than 2 million people were sued for debt in the county courts. But debt cannot be understood apart from credit, and the 1980s have seen a substantial increase in the amount of credit available. In The Indebted Society Janet Ford gives both an overview of the contemporary credit and debt society and a discussion of the borrower's experience and management of debt. As well as providing a critical examination of the growth and changing structure of credit provision, describing the social and economic base for such growth, and considering explanations for the emergence of default and contemporary attitudes to debt, she also presents a detailed study of forty households with mortgage arrears, placing these personal histories within the broader structure of a credit and debt society.

Download or read book Indebted Societies written by Andreas Bernhard Wiedemann and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Debt has become an essential part of families' daily lives in many countries. This dissertation examines under what circumstances credit markets replace the role of welfare states to address social risks and promote social mobility in advanced democracies. It sheds light on the socio-economic and political consequences of growing debt levels. I offer a theory that explains variation in household debt across and within countries by demonstrating that credit fills gaps between households' financial needs and demand for social services on the one hand and welfare states' supply of social services on the other-a gap I refer to as social policy shortfall. The transformation of stable Fordist economies into flexible knowledge economies led to increasingly fragmented employment patterns and life-course trajectories. Welfare states, however, have often not kept up with these disruptions and leave households with larger financial burdens. Households increasingly go into debt to address the financial consequences of social risk such as unemployment or sickness as well as to seize social opportunity by investing in childcare and family, education, and housing. Cross-nationally, two factors explain the variation in household debt: the size and type of social policy shortfall determine individuals' financial needs. But whether credit emerges as a private alternative to welfare states is contingent upon the structure of a country's credit regime, which shapes how easily individuals can borrow money. Drawing on full-population administrative records from Denmark and micro-level panel data from the U.S. and Germany, I show that the permissive credit regimes of the U.S. and Denmark grant households easy access to credit, but the distribution of debt across households differs because welfare states in both countries protect and support households differently. In Germany, the restrictive credit regime results in less borrowing even in light of social policy reforms. The findings have implications for how scholars and policymakers think about the role of financial markets and household debt in a world of changing labor markets and welfare states. It shows how credit markets and welfare states appear to fulfill similar functions but follow different underlying logics, each with its own socio-economic and distributional consequences that shape and amplify insecurity and inequality.

Download or read book The Dark Side of Prosperity written by Mark Horsley and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2015-03-28 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a critical analysis of consumer credit markets and the growth of outstanding debt, presenting in-depth interview material to explore the phenomenon of mass indebtedness through the life trajectories of self-identified debtors struggling with the pressures of owing money. A rich and original qualitative study of the close relationship between financial capitalism, consumer aspirations, social exclusion and the proliferation of personal indebtedness, The Dark Side of Prosperity examines questions of social identity, subjectivity and consumer motivation in close connection with the socio-cultural ideals of an ‘enjoyment society’ that binds the value of the lives of individuals to the endless acquisition and disposal of pecuniary resources and lifestyle symbols. Critically engaging with the work of Giddens, Beck and Bauman, this volume draws on the thought of contemporary philosophers including Žižek, Badiou and Rancière to consider the possibility that the expansion of outstanding consumer credit, despite its many consequences, may be integral to the construction of social identity in a radically indeterminate and increasingly divided society. A ground-breaking work of critical social research this book will appeal to scholars of social theory, contemporary philosophy and political and economic sociology, as well as those with interests in consumer credit and cultures of indebtedness.

Download or read book The Indebted Society written by Janet Ford and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about debt - a situation which affects a large and growing number of people. In Britain alone in 1986 more than 2 million people were sued for debt in the county courts. But debt cannot be understood apart from credit, and the 1980s have seen a substantial increase in the amount of credit available. In The Indebted Society Janet Ford gives both an overview of the contemporary credit and debt society and a discussion of the borrower's experience and management of debt. As well as providing a critical examination of the growth and changing structure of credit provision, describing the social and economic base for such growth, and considering explanations for the emergence of default and contemporary attitudes to debt, she also presents a detailed study of forty households with mortgage arrears, placing these personal histories within the broader structure of a credit and debt society.

Download or read book The Sociology of Debt written by Featherstone, Mark and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2020-12-16 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the course of the last ten years the issue of debt has become a serious problem that threatens to destroy the global socio-economic system and ruin the everyday lives of millions of people. This collection brings together a range of perspectives of key thinkers on debt to provide a sociological analysis focused upon the social, political, economic, and cultural meanings of indebtedness. The contributors to the book consider both the lived experience of debt and the more abstract processes of financialisation taking place globally. Showing how debt functions on the level of both macro- and microeconomics, the book also provides a more holistic perspective, with accounts that span sociological, cultural, and economic forms of analysis.

Download or read book The Dark Side of Prosperity written by Mark Horsley and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-09 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a critical analysis of consumer credit markets and the growth of outstanding debt, presenting in-depth interview material to explore the phenomenon of mass indebtedness through the life trajectories of self-identified debtors struggling with the pressures of owing money. A rich and original qualitative study of the close relationship between financial capitalism, consumer aspirations, social exclusion and the proliferation of personal indebtedness, The Dark Side of Prosperity examines questions of social identity, subjectivity and consumer motivation in close connection with the socio-cultural ideals of an ’enjoyment society’ that binds the value of the lives of individuals to the endless acquisition and disposal of pecuniary resources and lifestyle symbols. Critically engaging with the work of Giddens, Beck and Bauman, this volume draws on the thought of contemporary philosophers including Zizek, Badiou and Rancière to consider the possibility that the expansion of outstanding consumer credit, despite its many consequences, may be integral to the construction of social identity in a radically indeterminate and increasingly divided society. A ground-breaking work of critical social research this book will appeal to scholars of social theory, contemporary philosophy and political and economic sociology, as well as those with interests in consumer credit and cultures of indebtedness.

Download or read book Indebted written by Caitlin Zaloom and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "'Indebted' takes readers into the homes of middle-class families throughout the nation to reveal the hidden consequences of student debt and the ways that financing college has transformed family life"--Amazon

Download or read book The Making of the Indebted Man written by Maurizio Lazzarato and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2012-08-31 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new and radical reexamination of today's neoliberalist “new economy” through the political lens of the debtor/creditor relation. "The debtor-creditor relation, which is at the heart of this book, sharpens mechanisms of exploitation and domination indiscriminately, since, in it, there is no distinction between workers and the unemployed, consumers and producers, working and non-working populations, between retirees and welfare recipients. They are all 'debtors,' guilty and responsible in the eyes of capital, which has become the Great, the Universal, Creditor." —from The Making of the Indebted Man Debt—both public debt and private debt—has become a major concern of economic and political leaders. In The Making of the Indebted Man, Maurizio Lazzarato shows that, far from being a threat to the capitalist economy, debt lies at the very core of the neoliberal project. Through a reading of Karl Marx's lesser-known youthful writings on John Mill, and a rereading of writings by Friedrich Nietzsche, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, and Michel Foucault, Lazzarato demonstrates that debt is above all a political construction, and that the creditor/debtor relation is the fundamental social relation of Western societies. Debt cannot be reduced to a simple economic mechanism, for it is also a technique of “public safety” through which individual and collective subjectivities are governed and controlled. Its aim is to minimize the uncertainty of the time and behavior of the governed. We are forever sinking further into debt to the State, to private insurance, and, on a more general level, to corporations. To insure that we honor our debts, we are at once encouraged and compelled to become the “entrepreneurs” of our lives, of our “human capital.” In this way, our entire material, psychological, and affective horizon is upended and reconfigured. How do we extricate ourselves from this impossible situation? How do we escape the neoliberal condition of the indebted man? Lazzarato argues that we will have to recognize that there is no simple technical, economic, or financial solution. We must instead radically challenge the fundamental social relation structuring capitalism: the system of debt.

Download or read book Indebted to Intervene written by Oliver Vodeb and published by Intellect (UK). This book was released on 2015-08-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "InDEBTed to Intervene "is a collection of response-able essays, theoretical discussions, art, and communication design that presents findings about debt. Including contributions from cutting-edge critical scholars, educators, and activists from Slovenia, Australia, and the US, debt is discussed through the lens of public communication, art, design, technology, political economy, social struggle, surveillance, protest, education, enforced subjectivities, and urban as well as virtual space. Debt defines our lives and lies at the core of human relations; this book is an intervention that aims to contribute to the process of real change. It offers analytical insights, conceptual apparatuses, practical tools, and radical inspiration. The time for change is now.

Download or read book Indebted to Intervene written by Oliver Vodeb and published by Intellect Books. This book was released on 2016-01-10 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As governments and individuals struggle with growing indebtedness, the topic of debt itself – what it is, what it means, and how we understand it – has never been more salient. This collection brings together a range of contributions from many disciplines and around the world to consider debt through various lenses, including design, art, technology, political economy, social justice, surveillance, protest, education, urban and virtual spaces, and more. Aiming not just to advance scholarship, but to push ahead real change in the world, the book offers not only analytical insights and conceptual apparatuses, but practical tools and radical inspirations as well. A powerful analysis of a concept that has become ever more central to everyday society, InDEBTed to Intervene will be essential reading for scholars and citizens alike.

Download or read book Why Not Default written by Jerome E. Roos and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-12 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How creditors came to wield unprecedented power over heavily indebted countries—and the dangers this poses to democracy The European debt crisis has rekindled long-standing debates about the power of finance and the fraught relationship between capitalism and democracy in a globalized world. Why Not Default? unravels a striking puzzle at the heart of these debates—why, despite frequent crises and the immense costs of repayment, do so many heavily indebted countries continue to service their international debts? In this compelling and incisive book, Jerome Roos provides a sweeping investigation of the political economy of sovereign debt and international crisis management. He takes readers from the rise of public borrowing in the Italian city-states to the gunboat diplomacy of the imperialist era and the wave of sovereign defaults during the Great Depression. He vividly describes the debt crises of developing countries in the 1980s and 1990s and sheds new light on the recent turmoil inside the Eurozone—including the dramatic capitulation of Greece’s short-lived anti-austerity government to its European creditors in 2015. Drawing on in-depth case studies of contemporary debt crises in Mexico, Argentina, and Greece, Why Not Default? paints a disconcerting picture of the ascendancy of global finance. This important book shows how the profound transformation of the capitalist world economy over the past four decades has endowed private and official creditors with unprecedented structural power over heavily indebted borrowers, enabling them to impose painful austerity measures and enforce uninterrupted debt service during times of crisis—with devastating social consequences and far-reaching implications for democracy.

Download or read book Debt Inheritance written by Pepper Winters and published by Pepper Winters. This book was released on 2014-08-18 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Advance reviews: An incredible, unique journey down a rabbit hole of intrigue & history. Pepper's writing was captivating and thrilling, combined with her trademark for dark lyrical deliciousness, creating a perfectly braided work that screams...dark, sinful, forbidden, but also daring, alluring, and lustful. *** Please note, this is a Dark Romance. If you don't like darker topics, please don't read. It's ultimately a love story, but to find pleasure you must feel pain. You have been warned.*** "I own you. I have the piece of paper to prove it. It's undeniable and unbreakable. You belong to me until you've paid off your debts." Nila Weaver's family is indebted. Being the first born daughter, her life is forfeit to the first born son of the Hawks to pay for sins of ancestors past. The dark ages might have come and gone, but debts never leave. She has no choice in the matter. She is no longer free. Jethro Hawk receives Nila as an inheritance present on his twenty-ninth birthday. Her life is his until she's paid off a debt that's centuries old. He can do what he likes with her--nothing is out of bounds--she has to obey. There are no rules. Only payments. *Debt Inheritance is a full length book at 252 pages and ends on a cliffhanger. There are Six Books in the Series.

Download or read book Debt and Guilt written by Elettra Stimilli and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-12-27 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The issue of debt and how it affects our lives is becoming more and more urgent. The "Austerity" model has been the prevalent European economic policies of recent years led by the "German model". Elettra Stimilli draws upon contemporary philosophy, psychology and theology to argue that austerity is built on the idea that we somehow deserve to be punished and need to experience guilt in order to take full account of our economic sins. Following thinkers such as Max Weber, Walter Benjamin and Michel Foucault, Debt and Guilt provides a startling examination of the relationship between contemporary politics and economics and how we structure our inner lives. The first English translation of Debito e Colpa, this book provokes new ways of thinking about how we experience both debt and guilt in contemporary society.

Download or read book Governing by Debt written by Maurizio Lazzarato and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2015-01-23 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An argument that under capitalism, debt has become infinite and unpayable, expressing a political relation of subjection and enslavement. Experts, pundits, and politicians agree: public debt is hindering growth and increasing unemployment. Governments must reduce debt at all cost if they want to restore confidence and get back on a path to prosperity. Maurizio Lazzarato's diagnosis, however, is completely different: under capitalism, debt is not primarily a question of budget and economic concerns but a political relation of subjection and enslavement. Debt has become infinite and unpayable. It disciplines populations, calls for structural reforms, justifies authoritarian crackdowns, and even legitimizes the suspension of democracy in favor of “technocratic governments” beholden to the interests of capital. The 2008 economic crisis only accelerated the establishment of a “new State capitalism,” which has carried out a massive confiscation of societies' wealth through taxes. And who benefits? Finance capital. In a calamitous return to the situation before the two world wars, the entire process of accumulation is now governed by finance, which has absorbed sectors it once ignored, like higher education, and today is often identified with life itself. Faced with the current catastrophe and the disaster to come, Lazzarato contends, we must overcome capitalist valorization and reappropriate our existence, knowledge, and technology. In Governing by Debt, Lazzarato confronts a wide range of thinkers—from Félix Guattari and Michel Foucault to David Graeber and Carl Schmitt—and draws on examples from the United States and Europe to argue that it is time that we unite in a collective refusal of this most dire status quo.

Download or read book Expressing America written by George Ritzer and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 1995-02-09 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The explosive growth of consumer credit, as well as the shift from cash to "plastic" in societies throughout the world signals a transformation in social relations, which is the focus of this book. For student readers who know the world of credit cards all too well, this is a great way to interest and educate them on the power of thinking sociologically.