Crafting an Alternative Politics of Debt - Spaces and places of politics as everyday action

债务政治（英语：Politics of Debt）是指复杂且有争议的债务政治，它定义了当今英国的大部分经济和文化生活。这个知识交流项目探讨了第三部门在围绕获得负担得起的信贷和与债务有关的问题进行更广泛的政治对话方面所发挥的作用。我们知道，在2008年金融危机之后，越来越多的民间社会倡议寻求让个人和社区参与，以此作为影响政治辩论的一种方式。对一些民间社会团体来说，重点是受到紧缩措施不利影响的广大民众;对另一些民间社会团体来说，重点是阐明对政治和经济精英的信任严重丧失，或利用政治行动来试验个人和社区可以收回对其自己生活的权力的方式，以重振行使政治权力的做法。该项目探讨了公民社会网络的弹性，以及他们为塑造有关金融，债务和英国经济的更广泛辩论所做的努力。特别是日常政治行动的数字空间和现实空间之间的界面。换句话说，这些团体如何能够在大规模抗议活动，办公室或教堂霍尔斯等地方，当然不完全受空间限制;但越来越多地使用数字平台来通知/煽动新形式的政治参与。这是通过与项目伙伴合作设计的四个相互关联的工作包来实现的：（1）绘制数字和现实世界行为者网络图，并创建一个“债务-CN”网络网络;（2）对债务不平等进行合作研究;（3）创建和支持一个标签实验，记录信用社服务组织“治愈”和替代信贷提供者“为你公平”的推出情况;（4）开展合作研究，探讨小额贷款的数字化转型提供一套灵活的知识交流活动是一种相对较新的影响力方法，不仅仅是展示学术社会研究如何为国民经济做出贡献，并推动政府政策的改善。我们采用嵌入式方法进行研究，涉及与个人和组织网络密切合作，为组织实践做出切实贡献。重要的是，我们正在尝试新的数字论坛，这些论坛在社会科学研究中仍然没有得到充分的探索。例如，#ReinventCU实验复制了曼彻斯特大学和伦敦自治市理事会学者之间的#EnfieldExperiment项目，以制定当地经济发展战略，以及试图了解BBC用户如何与数字内容互动的#BBCBudget。影响可以比这更本地化，更有形。在可能的情况下，我们应致力于采取一种更“嵌入式”的研究方法，包括与当地的公众和公共机构更密切地合作。关键的共同点是研究人员和从业人员之间存在伙伴关系，相互交流知识，从而提高研究质量，并同时提高服务提供的某些方面。

The politics of debt refers to complex and contested politics of debt that defines much of economic and cultural life in present-day Britain. This knowledge exchange project explores the role the Third Sector plays in shaping the wider politic conversations around access to affordable credit and problems associated with indebtedness. We know that in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis a growing number of civil society initiatives sought to engage individuals and communities as a way of shaping political debate. For some civil society groups the focus is on the wide range of people adversely affected by austerity measures; for others it is articulating the profound loss of trust in political and economic elites or using political action to experiment with ways individuals and communities could take back power over their own lives to reinvigorate the very practice of exercising political power. This project explores the resilience of civil society networks and their efforts to shape the wider debate about finance, debt and the UK economy. In particular, the interface between the digital and real-life spaces of the everyday political action. In other words, how these groups can be located in places like large-scale protests, offices, or church halls, which of course are not entirely bound by space; but increasingly use digital platforms to inform/foment the new forms of political engagement. This is accomplished through four interrelated work packages designed in collaboration with project partners: (1) mapping the network of digital and real-world actors and creating a network of networks 'Debt-CN'; (2) collaborative research on debt inequality; (3) Create and support a hashtag experiment documenting the roll-out of the Credit Union Service Organisation 'CURES' and alternative credit provider 'Fair for You'; (4) Collaborative research investigating digital transformations in small-scale lending.Offering a flexible package of knowledge exchange activities is a relatively new approach to impact that is not simply about demonstrating how academic social research contributes to the national economy and drives improvements in government policy. We adopt an embedded approach to research that involves working closely with a network of individuals and organisations to deliver tangible contribution to organisational practice. Importantly we are experimenting with new digital forums that remain underexplored in social science research. For example, the #ReinventCU experiment replicates projects like #EnfieldExperiment between academics from the University of Manchester and London Borough council to develop local economic development strategy and the #BBCBudget that attempted to understand how BBC-users interact with digital content. Impact can be more local and more tangible than this. Where possible, we should aim to adopt a more 'embedded' approach to research which involves working more closely with the public, and public institutions, at a local level. The crucial common thread is the existence of a partnership between researchers and practitioners that generates a mutual exchange of knowledge which, in turn, improves the quality of the research and some aspect of service provision in tandem.