Paper short abstract:

When a person with problem debt is unable to make genuine progress towards stability, they move toward symbolic and moral gestures which show they are taking their debt seriously. This paper outlines and discusses these gestures, which are used to resist narratives of financial/moral recklessness.

Paper long abstract:

All borrowing begins with a Utopian vision of the future. People borrow for a better life, to educate themselves, for a home, for a car, for their children. But though debt is taken on with noble intentions, the harshness of the world can make a mockery of our efforts.

Regardless of the reasons behind the fall into (over)indebtedness, this paper, based on research with Irish debtors answers a paradox: that debt problems ought to provoke a swift and immediate response as they only become more serious with time, yet people in debt persistently refuse to seek help. I explain this with reference to the shame-anger loop, whereby people become trapped in a toxic affective cycle of feeling ashamed that they cannot deal with their problems, then feeling angry that they are ashamed, which makes them feel more ashamed (and so on).

Nevertheless, people in debt feel compelled to try and do something, and so they make symbolic gestures. They pay a small amount (even €1) on a bill, they develop harsher budgets, they deprive themselves of cheap or even free forms of entertainment as a form of self-punishment, adopting the subjectivities of the responsible debtor. They strive to prove that they are still capable of managing their own affairs, but also that they are deserving of help and sympathy from others if the worst should happen. This is not financial bankruptcy - but rather moral or social bankruptcy, with its accompanying loss of respect, standing, and prestige in one's community.