Indebted to the state: the role of debts-to-government in the social reproduction of the relative surplus population in post-financial crisis England

欠国家债务：金融危机后英国政府债务在相对剩余人口社会再生产中的作用

• 批准号: 2872749
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Warwick
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2872749
• 关键词: Indebted; state; role; debts; government

As a cost-living crisis grips the United Kingdom, concern about rising household precarity and indebtedness has again come to the fore. In this context, the current project seeks to contribute to the existing literature on the role of debt in the social reproduction of low-income households. However, it will address a key lacuna within the literature by investigating an increasingly problematic form of household debt that has previously been neglected, namely debts owed to the state. The study will focus in particular on two of the most common forms of debts-to-government in the UK: benefit overpayments and council tax arrears. The project aims to investigate how these debts-to-government have grown in significance in the UK, how they influence people's interactions with and use of private credit, and how they potentially undermine the social reproduction of low-income households, drawing on Marx's concept of the relative surplus population. The project also seeks to explore what the creation and collection of these debts reveals about the changing role of the state in post-financial crisis England. In doing so, it will draw upon Soederberg's (2014) work which theorises that the state plays a key role in fostering a reliance upon credit to sustain social reproduction among the relative surplus population, thereby creating a market for credit-led accumulation. By investigating debts-to-government, this study aims to elucidate one of the mechanisms via which the state may achieve this. The project, therefore, aims to address the following research questions:1. Why have debts-to-government increased since the Global Financial Crisis, and through which forms?2. What role does the creation of these debts play in the social reproduction of relative surplus populations?3. What role do debts-to-government play in reproducing relative surplus populations as a market for credit-led accumulation?4. What impact do the debt collection practices of the state have on the social reproduction of relative surplus populations?5. What does the creation and collection of these debts-to-government reveal about the role of the state in post-financial crisis England?Through an investigation into the impacts that these debts-to-government have on social reproduction, the project will further develop our understanding of how state intervention disciplines and reconstructs the relative surplus population. Specifically, it will elucidate how the active creation of debt by the state serves to hold relative surplus populations in an unstable position close to the labour market, and thus subject to the disciplining effects of market forces. Drawing on Soederberg's (2014) concept of the debtfare state, the project will also investigate how these debts created by the state foster a reliance on credit, and thus potentially risk undermining the social reproduction of relative surplus populations. In order to achieve this, the project combines a detailed examination of the advocacy, legislation and policy documentation pertinent to the creation and collection of these debts-to-government with in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Interviews will be conducted with members of the relative surplus population that are indebted to the state, debt advisors, welfare advisors, and state actors working for the Department for Work and Pensions, HMRC, and local authorities. The interviews will thus entail varied perspectives, providing valuable insight into the experiences of those that are indebted, the logics that underpin and govern the state bureaucracy, and the experiences of those professionals that are tasked with liaising between the two.

随着英国陷入生活成本危机，人们对家庭不稳定和债务上升的担忧再次成为人们关注的焦点。在此背景下，本项目旨在为有关债务在低收入家庭社会再生产中的作用的现有文献做出贡献。然而，它将通过调查以前被忽视的一种日益成问题的家庭债务形式，即欠国家的债务，来解决文献中的一个关键缺陷。该研究将特别关注英国政府债务的两种最常见形式：福利超额支付和市政税拖欠。该项目旨在借鉴马克思相对剩余人口的概念，调查这些政府债务如何在英国变得越来越重要，它们如何影响人们与私人信贷的互动和使用，以及它们如何潜在地破坏低收入家庭的社会再生产。该项目还试图探索这些债务的产生和收回揭示了金融危机后英国国家角色的变化。在此过程中，它将借鉴Soederberg（2014）的著作，该著作的理论是，国家在促进对信贷的依赖以维持相对剩余人口的社会再生产方面发挥着关键作用，从而为信贷主导的积累创造了市场。通过调查政府债务，本研究旨在阐明国家实现这一目标的机制之一。因此，该项目旨在解决以下研究问题：1．自全球金融危机以来，政府债务为何增加？通过哪些形式增加？2．这些债务的产生在相对过剩人口的社会再生产中发挥什么作用？3．作为信贷主导积累的市场，政府债务在再生产相对过剩人口方面发挥什么作用？4．国家的收债实践对相对过剩人口的社会再生产有何影响？5．这些政府债务的产生和收回揭示了国家在金融危机后的英国所扮演的角色？通过调查这些政府债务对社会再生产的影响，该项目将进一步加深我们对国家干预如何约束和重建相对过剩人口的理解。具体来说，它将阐明国家积极创造债务如何使相对过剩人口处于接近劳动力市场的不稳定地位，从而受到市场力量的约束作用。该项目还将借鉴Soederberg（2014）的债务国家概念，研究国家创造的这些债务如何促进对信贷的依赖，从而潜在地破坏相对过剩人口的社会再生产。为了实现这一目标，该项目将对与这些政府债务的产生和追收相关的倡导、立法和政策文件进行详细审查，并进行深入的半结构化访谈。访谈对象包括欠国家债务的相对过剩人口、债务顾问、福利顾问以及为工作和养老金部、英国税务海关总署和地方当局工作的国家行为者。因此，访谈将涉及不同的视角，为负债者的经历、支撑和管理国家官僚机构的逻辑以及负责两者之间联络的专业人员的经历提供宝贵的见解。