Abstract

Debt is structural to late, financialised capitalism. In particular, it is a crucial stronghold of Chilean socio-economic model, with massive and normalised household debt. This has allowed the rising of economic holdings that provide precarious jobs, access to consumption and debt. However, behind these significant household debt figures, there are household narratives that offer significant evidence about how families deal with credit prompting a myriad of practices in-and-out of market, namely moralities and non-economic rationalities. This way, households show some degree of agency in trying to “domesticate” credit and to adapt to the structural conditions upon which credit has expanded. The latter is particular to the Chilean case since it was led by department stores, supermarket and other retail businesses. Using a macro structural analysis of indebtedness, a historical-institutional analysis of credit industry, and the micro narratives of indebted households, I aim to contribute to the understanding of financial capitalism and mature neoliberalism, such as the Chilean case, considering debt as a key device for the setting of precarious consumer society, and beyond the understanding of debt as merely an economic device. Upon an unwavering and ideological support to neoliberalism as a public policies system, Chilean neoliberalism forces to deal and live under a constant and uncontested indebtedness, normalising debt.