Take Thou No Interest? The Emergence of the Debt Industry in the Netherlands
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2023-08-14
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en
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More than half a million Dutch households struggle with problematic debts. They are stuck in an industry that takes small debts and turns them into big ones that are nearly impossible to repay. This thesis attempts to account for the emerge of this thriving debt industry in the Netherlands. Based on a historical materialist framework, it theorizes debt as a form of class-based exploitation rooted in the wider dynamics of capital accumulation. A critical analysis reveals that the shift towards a debt-led regime of accumulation necessitated the reproduction of the growing surplus population through a system of debt assistance and debt enforcement. Debt was redefined as an equal contractual relation and debtors were reconceptualized as irresponsible consumers, thereby legitimizing their exploitation
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen