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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Abigail Marks
This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by Policy Press, 2022.
For re-use rights please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
Based on data from over 70 interviews with people working in the home credit industry, this article makes a unique contribution to knowledge about work in sub-prime financial services. The article demonstrates how extant positions constructing home credit agents as ‘dirty workers’ are to some extent misleading, omitting analysis of the place(s) in which such work is enacted. Home credit has been established in disadvantaged, stigmatised communities for decades and is central to the history and geography of many working-class territories. Drawing on theory surrounding place and territorial stigma, this article considers the complicated relationship between the conflicting feelings of taint and value held by home credit workers, thus contributing to a more nuanced and contextually aware understanding of ‘dirty work’. Moreover, by exploring the value of home credit agents to their borrowers, it is possible to gain insights as to how to better structure financial support in low-income communities.
Author(s): Marks A
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Work in the Global Economy
Year: 2022
Volume: 2
Issue: 1
Pages: 46–62
Print publication date: 28/05/2022
Online publication date: 25/05/2022
Acceptance date: 08/05/2022
Date deposited: 21/06/2022
ISSN (electronic): 2732-4176
Publisher: Policy Press
URL: https://doi.org/10.1332/273241721X16506340442240
DOI: 10.1332/273241721X16506340442240
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/4tzs-qj60
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