Capitalist modernization, middle classes, and social conflict: 20 years of social studies on credit and debt in Chile

Abstract

This essay reviews the evolution of 20 years of social studies on household credit and indebtedness in Chile, highlighting their relevance for understanding the processes of financialization in Latin America. Three research agendas are addressed: i) an epochal and normative debate on the role of credit in capitalist transformation, the emergence of middle classes, and economic and social modernization; ii) a focus on the relationship between credit, consumption, stratification, and social mobility; iii) the process of producing credit subjects, exploring conflicting trajectories of indebtedness and their relation to the emergence of new political subjects and forms of collective action against debt. The paper concludes with reflections for further developing social studies of credit and debt in Chile.