Devising Consumption: Cultural Economies of Insurance, Credit and Spending

The book explores the relations between saving, credit and consumption within the broad context of current debates about financialization, regulation and security through theoretical and empirical analyses of market devices and consumer dispositions. '¬ÜFinancing consumption '¬" in financial matters refers to the capacity to meet immediate obligations and the capacity to protect oneself against future risks. '¬ÜFinancing consumption'¬" is both how consumption is to be financed and how finances are to be protected. The book reviews existing literature to identify the need to understand the processes of financial inclusion and exclusion through a distinctive analytical approach which can combine Social Studies of Finance (SSF) techniques with approaches to consumption found within cultural history, cultural economy and governmentality to offer a materialist, socio-technical account of consumer finance. By focusing empirically on two products, industrial assurance and home credit, the book aims to tackle questions about the relationship between marketing devices and consumer practices from opposite ends of the spectrum.