Lived Economies of Default ─ Consumer credit, debt collection and the capture of affect

Consumer credit borrowing – using credit cards, store cards and personal loans – is an important and routine part of many of our lives. But what happens when these everyday forms of borrowing go ‘bad', when people cannot, or will not, repay? It is this poorly understood, controversial, but central part of both the consumer credit industry and the lived experiences of an increasing number of people that this book explores.

Drawing on research from the interior of the debt collections industry, it examines precisely how this ever more sophisticated, globally connected market functions. It focuses on the highly intimate techniques used to try and recoup defaulting debts from borrowers, as well as on the collection industry's relationship with lenders. Looking at the issue of consumer credit default from the point of view of the borrower, Joe Deville follows a journey of default, from debtors' accounts of their borrowing practices, to the intrusion of collections technologies into their homes and everyday lives, to debtors' attempts to seek outside help.

By opening up for scrutiny an area of the economy which is often hidden from view, this book makes a major contribution to understanding the role of consumer credit in our societies and economies. This book will be of interest to students, teachers and researchers in a range of fields, including sociology, anthropology, economics, and social psychology.

Joe Deville is a researcher at the Centre for the Study of Invention and Social Process at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is also the co-founder of the Charisma research network and an editor at Journal of Cultural Economy.