The Production and Consumption of Indebted Subjectivity

Date

2025-4

Author

Kabalay, Berkay

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This thesis discusses how individual indebtedness operates as a political relation of power in neoliberalism. Contrary to common arguments in the literature, the main claim of the research is that indebted subjects significantly contribute to explaining the operation of the debt relationship. Introducing the micro-level into the analysis necessitates considering the state of indebtedness of these subjects, along with their associated practices and discourses. To this end, interviews were conducted with debtors in Turkey, and the data obtained supported the research claim. The thesis first examines the theoretical, ontological, and methodological bases before explaining the operation of indebtedness. In this context, the focus in on the specificity of the working-class indebtedness. Influenced by Foucauldian and Marxist approaches, indebtedness is conceptualized as a power relation, and the subject arises from these defined relations as a process. Following these foundational explanations, the often-neglected micro-level analysis of indebtedness is explored through three themes: borrowing, conducting, and reacting. The reasons for borrowing are primarily caused by reproduction and resilience-building, thus rendering it an issue of labor. Through this theme, debtors are portrayed as worker-debtors. The second theme addresses the mechanisms that subordinate worker-debtors, illustrating that indebtedness represents an unequal and violent relationship. On this asymmetrical plane, both self-practiced and externally enforced mechanisms of power coexist. The final theme concerns the reactions of debtors to their indebtedness. The absence of debt resistance movements in Turkey indicates that objective conditions do not automatically catalyze political action. Additionally, subjective practices, beyond political action, encompass management strategies called gray practices.

Subject Keywords

Indebtedness, Subjectivity, Power relations, Neoliberalism

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/114053

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis