Cultivating the self-reliant and responsible individual: the material culture of financial literacy

Abstract

This paper analyses the promotion of financial education by many national and international organisations around the world. Drawing on the material culture of financialisation, financial education policy is perceived as part of a broader neoliberal project to extend commodification and (re)construct social and economic reproduction in ways favourable to the financial sector. It argues that, while numerous contradictions inherent in financial education programmes jeopardise the goal of improving individual financial decisions through education, the ideological goal of these initiatives is not compromised. It is the neoliberal cultural project of cultivating self-reliance and individual responsibility at the expense of collective forms of provision across new areas of economic and social life.

‘If You Fall, Stand Up Again’: The Moral Nature of Financial Literacy in the Global South

“…Financial literacy has only recently come into focus as a key development intervention (Guérin, 2012; Santos, 2017). Its rise maps onto what Mader and Sabrow (2015: 22) call the ‘mission shift’ in the development world from microcredit to financial inclusion.…”

“…Prior to the establishment of credit bureaus, credit professionals used moral messages to ‘inculcate norms of prompt payment and to shame consumers into honoring their promises, even while helping them dig themselves further into debt’ (Lauer, 2017: 13). In today's era of financialization — aptly described by Martin (2002: 3) as the ‘new invitation to live by finance’ — financial education is laden with moral and ideological frameworks supporting neoliberalism (Clarke, 2015; Haiven, 2017; Santos, 2017). These frameworks suggest a worldview outlining how to get ahead, while also engaging in an ‘assassination of the older set of expectations for how citizens should relate to society’ (Martin, 2002: 10).…”

“…Financial literacy encourages individuals to be more responsible and calculative, and to plan for needs, crises and setbacks (Martin, 2002). It thus works to produce financial subjects, to naturalize ideas about self‐reliance, elide the structural causes of financial difficulty, erase the gendered and racialized inequalities produced by neoliberal capitalism, and depoliticize questions about the privatization of risk (Clarke, 2015; Haiven, 2017; Harmes, 2001, Langley, 2008; Martin, 2002; Santos, 2017; Willis, 2008). For these reasons, critical scholars have labelled financial literacy an ‘empty promise’ (Clarke, 2015) that primarily serves to reproduce, naturalize and depoliticize neoliberalism (Harmes, 2001: 105).…”

“…These studies often begin with unquestioned assumptions about what constitutes a positive financial outcome, what financial literacy is and does, how it can be cultivated, and how it relates to debt and over‐indebtedness. While critical scholarship has begun to question the assumptions and definitions adopted (Guérin, 2012; Santos, 2017), we know little about what financial literacy programmes are and what they do in practice.…”

Top managers' attributes, innovation, and the participation in China–Pakistan Economic Corridor: A study of energy sector small and medium‐sized enterprises

“…In the context of Pakistan, CPEC is going to offer opportunities for SMEs for cooperation with other organizations, which in turn will require more financial skills. Research also exhibited a positive relationship between the financial literacy of the top management and their participation in the national level projects, and they are confident and responsible (Santos, 2017). Additionally, a positive significant relationship is found between the top management team, innovation, and internationalization (Wrede & Dauth, 2020).…”