Reconceptualizing Debt Bondage: Debt as a Class-Based Form of Labor Discipline

LeBaron, Genevieve

doi:10.1177/0896920513512695

Cited by 63 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Managing debt in the current financialized economy is a key attribute for socio-economic success (Davis, 2009; Mahmud, 2012). Accordingly, the status of actors in the realm of debt and credit is likely to impact both access to credit as well as the terms of contracts (LeBaron, 2014; Riaz, 2016; Roberts, 2014). In this regard, how male and female credit card borrowers are portrayed in the media with respect to their competence in managing debt can compound gender inequality.…”

Section: Research Context and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research in the area suggests that in an increasingly “financialized” economy (Davis & Kim, 2015), understanding how inequality is manifested in the financial realm—including spending, credit, and debt—can offer substantial insights into inequality’s persistence (Fligstein & Goldstein, 2015; Mahmud, 2012; Rajan, 2012). In particular, consumer debt is a focal point for studying issues of inequality because terms of debt contracts and access to debt are closely linked to underlying societal inequalities (LeBaron, 2014; Riaz, 2016; Roberts, 2014). Research on gender inequality in the financial realm has focused on structural and material aspects but has given limited attention to cultural aspects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Categorizing Competence: Consumer debt and the reproduction of gender-based status differences

Buchanan

Ruebottom

Riaz

2017

Organization Studies

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We examine how gender inequalities are reproduced through categorization processes in mainstream discourse. Drawing from an analysis of six years of US media coverage of credit card borrowers throughout the recent financial crisis, we show how categorization processes facilitate gender-based status differences by categorizing male and female credit card borrowers based on competence. We find that three dimensions of competence—savviness, responsibility, and agency—are constructed through two discursive mechanisms: accounts and vocabularies. Additionally, we highlight how vocabularies work to amplify stereotype-consistent accounts, yet undermine stereotype-inconsistent accounts. We contribute to research on institutional maintenance by highlighting the role of categorization processes in the reproduction of institutionalized relations of inequality. Further, we contribute to research on gender inequality by offering an in-depth examination of the micro-processes involved in the social construction of gender-based status differences. In this way, we shed new light on the cultural means through which gender inequalities are reproduced.

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Section: Research Context and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Categorizing Competence: Consumer debt and the reproduction of gender-based status differences

Buchanan

Ruebottom

Riaz

2017

Organization Studies

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“…The coining of the term “modern slavery” has helped to focus the minds of practitioners and academics on this important issue. Papers on modern slavery have appeared in leading social-scientific journals in fields such as sociology and political economy (LeBaron and Ayers 2013 ; LeBaron 2014a , b Strauss and McGrath 2017 ). Academics have also published important books on the topic of modern slavery (Bales 2000 ; Kara 2017 ; Davidson 2015 ; Scarpa 2011 ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historicizing Modern Slavery: Free-Grown Sugar as an Ethics-Driven Market Category in Nineteenth-Century Britain

Smith

Johns

2019

J Bus Ethics

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The modern slavery literature engages with history in an extremely limited fashion. Our paper demonstrates to the utility of historical research to modern slavery researchers by explaining the rise and fall of the ethics-driven market category of "free-grown sugar" in nineteenth-century Britain. In the first decades of the century, the market category of "free-grown sugar" enabled consumers who were opposed to slavery to pay a premium for a more ethical product. After circa 1840, this market category disappeared, even though considerable quantities of slave-grown sugar continued to arrive into the UK. We explain the disappearance of the market category. Our paper contributes to the ongoing debates about slavery in management by historicizing and thus problematizing the concept of "slavery". The paper challenges those modern slavery scholars who argue that lack of consumer knowledge about product provenance is the main barrier to the elimination of slavery from today's international supply chains. The historical research presented in this paper suggests that consumer indifference, rather than simply ignorance, may be the more fundamental problem. The paper challenges the optimistic historical metanarrative that pervades much of the research on ethical consumption. It highlights the fragility of ethics-driven market categories, offering lessons for researchers and practitioners seeking to tackle modern slavery.

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“…TMPs afford migrants limited access to public goods in the form of welfare, housing and education giving them little agency to negotiate (Prebisch, 2010). TMPs, particularly agricultural programmes, are recognized as being exploitative due to a range of issues including long working days without overtime; labour market segmentation; use of dangerous chemicals with no safety equipment or training; pay discrimina tion between migrant and non-migrant workforce; being prohibited from collective bargaining; downward pressure on workers' wages; and debt bondage (Preibisch, 2010;Hennebry, 2012;Hennebry & Preibisch, 2012;Lenard & Straehle, 2012;LeBaron, 2014;Strauss & McGrath, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal worker schemes: can they achieve social

McAreavey

2019

Eur. XXI

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Seasonal workers are increasingly being used globally to provide a short-term workforce, filling positions in the labour market that are often difficult, dirty and shunned by native born workers. Seasonal schemes are promoted in typically economic terms, offering a triple win where the host society gains from flexible labour; the sending country benefits from remittances and skill transfers; and migrants themselves gain from access to the labour market. However, they have been found to support the uneven economic participation of workers in global production processes and they typically marginalise workers socially. Drawing from examples elsewhere and using Nancy Fraser’s three-dimensional perspective of social justice (2005), this article examines the prospect for developing socially just seasonal work programmes. It is logical that most societies seek to promote seasonal worker schemes that allow workers to be treated according to the rules of justice. And yet, research has shown the exploitation of many different types of migrant workers. Following Fraser, the article asks to what extent recognition, redistribution and representation can be achieved through seasonal worker schemes? It identifies key issues for consideration if social justice is to be upheld.

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Reconceptualizing Debt Bondage: Debt as a Class-Based Form of Labor Discipline

Cited by 63 publications

References 34 publications

Categorizing Competence: Consumer debt and the reproduction of gender-based status differences

Categorizing Competence: Consumer debt and the reproduction of gender-based status differences

Historicizing Modern Slavery: Free-Grown Sugar as an Ethics-Driven Market Category in Nineteenth-Century Britain

Seasonal worker schemes: can they achieve social

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