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Money-go-round: personal economies of wealth, aspiration and indebtedness

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  • James, Deborah

Abstract

Considerable attempts to create a single economy of credit, in part through regularizing microlenders (especially the much-demonized loansharks or mashonisas), have been made by the South African government, notably through the National Credit Act. This article explores how borrowing and indebtedness are seen from the point of view of consumers and of those who aim to protect them. It suggests that we should speak of moneylending rather than moneylenders; that lending is often done by groups rather than by individuals (in a variant of the well-known stokvel); and that it may represent a response to so-called ‘formalization’ (Guyer 2004) of financial arrangements by those who have considerable experience of this, rather than being a bulwark against it. Based on research in Gauteng and Mpumalanga, the article critically explores prevalent stereotypes of the ‘overindebted consumer’ and the ‘black diamond’, seeking evidence both in support and in refutation of them. It discusses those factors which are conducive to and those which obstruct the achieving of the status of upwardly mobile – and simultaneously overindebted – person; demonstrates that aspiration and upward mobility, and the problems of credit or debt that accompany these, have much longer histories; and that these matters can give us insights into the contradictory character of the South African state. Its ‘neo-liberal’ dimension allows and encourages free engagement with the market and advocates the freedom to spend, even to become excessively acquisitive of material wealth. But it simultaneously attempts to regulate this in the interests of those unable to participate in this dream of conspicuous consumption. Informalization intensifies as all manner of means are devised to tap into state resources. Neo-liberal means are used to ensure the wide spread of redistribution.

Suggested Citation

  • James, Deborah, 2012. "Money-go-round: personal economies of wealth, aspiration and indebtedness," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 42044, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:42044
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/42044/
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Reza Daniels, 2004. "Financial intermediation, regulation and the formal microcredit sector in South Africa," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 831-849.
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    Cited by:

    1. Nick Bernards, 2018. "The Truncated Commercialization of Microinsurance and the Limits of Neoliberalism," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 49(6), pages 1447-1470, November.
    2. James, Deborah & Rajak, Dinah, 2014. "Credit apartheid, migrants, mines and money," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 59434, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Adeline Nnenna Idike & Ikechukwu Ogeze Ukeje & Udu Ogbulu & Johnson Ngwuta Aloh & Victoria Ugochi Obasi & Kelechi Nwachukwu & Kenneth Osuebi & Ernest N. Ejem, 2021. "The Practice of Human Capital Development Process and Poverty Reduction: Consequences for Sustainable Development Goals in Ebonyi State, Nigeria," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 263-280, June.
    4. Pelkmans, Mathijs & Umetbaeva, Damira, 2018. "Moneylending and moral reasoning on the capitalist frontier in Kyrgyzstan," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 84409, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Andrea Pollio, 2020. "Architectures of millennial development: Entrepreneurship and spatial justice at the bottom of the pyramid in Cape Town," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(3), pages 573-592, May.

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    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General

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