Paper short abstract:

Using citizenship as a conceptual frame, the paper demonstrates on empirical material from Czechia that the ability to handle debts forms a marker of participation in society, enabling the imposition of both moral and legal sanctions, delimiting who is (un)deserving and who should be given voice.

Paper long abstract:

Czechia has witnessed a rapid growth in household debt and the expansion of a legal system which has turned debt collection into an extremely profitable business for those representing creditors, offering limited protection to debtors. Consequently, nearly ten percent of the adult population is facing wage and property seizures, a situation in which they are deprived of several fundamental rights (property ownership, guarantee of adequate income, privacy rights, etc.) and often face economic precarity and poverty.

Presenting first findings from the research project “Constructing and Performing Citizenship through Debt in the Czech Republic”, our paper uses citizenship as a conceptual frame to investigate the social position and agency of debtors who experience difficulties repaying formal loans. Understanding debt as a technique of governance and discipline (Graeber 2014; Lai 2017) and citizenship as a legal and a social institution with multiple dimensions and hierarchies granting access to rights and protections (Isin 2009), we argue that the ability to handle debts forms a marker of participation in society, enabling the imposition of both moral and legal sanctions, delimiting who is (un)deserving and who should be given voice. We examine how a ‘successful’ individual can be constructed through the ‘proper’ engagement with finance and management of debt while others who struggle can be excluded from the access to rights and/or protection. Particularly, we focus on the ways these frames of deservingness and legitimization shape the ability of debtors to mobilise in case of perceived injustice and on their strategies of resistance.