Financialisation of everyday life

Lai, Karen P.Y.

Abstract

Over the past few decades, there has been a broad expansion of financial power in which the biopolitical terrain of individual subjectivity, aspiration and forms of conduct at an individual level is increasingly tied to global financial structures. This calls for more systematic and incisive analyses into the household and its constituent elements in understanding the construction and mobilisation of financialised behaviour and outcomes. This chapter identifies three key research themes and highlights some future directions for investigating the financialisation of everyday life. The first theme analyses how new intermediaries of finance have increased the influence and pervasiveness of financial instruments and solutions in everyday life. The second theme examines the discourse of risk-taking and self-management that has shaped the formation of financial subjects. The third theme concerns the role of the state in financialisation and considers whether it is a distant or reactionary agent in ‘context’ or a strategic actor who mobilises financialisation scripts for political-economic purposes. The conclusion puts forward a research agenda that highlights the household as a key site from which to explore the constructions and practices of financialisation and how culture, sentiments, emotions and care matter in economic lives.

Citation

Lai, K. P. (2018). Financialisation of everyday life. In G. L. Clark, M. P. Feldmann, M. Gertler, & D. Wojcik (Eds.), The new Oxford handbook of economic geography (611-627). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198755609.013.29

• Online Publication Date: Jan 31, 2018
• Publication Date: Jan 31, 2018
• Deposit Date: Aug 31, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 31, 2020
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Pages: 611-627
• Book Title: The new Oxford handbook of economic geography.
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198755609.013.29
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1660036