New class formations and the financialisation of young people’s lives
New class formations and the financialisation of young people’s lives
Social Sciences Hub
Date: Wednesday 18 September 2024
Time: 16:00 - 17:00
Venue: University of Glasgow, 42 Bute Gardens, Room 916
Category: Staff workshops and seminars
Speaker: Steven Threadgold (University of Newcastle, Australia)
Website: www.sccjr.ac.uk/event/new-class-formations-and-the-financialisation-of-young-peoples-lives/
Young people are experiencing their transition to adulthood in an era of rising inequality, unprecedented new risks and the ubiquitous saturation but ever-evolving role of digital technologies in their lives. Financial technology (fintech) – Buy-Now-Pay-Later, crypto, gambling and share trading apps – are key examples of the shift to credit itself as a consumer good and the financialisation of everyday life. There is evidence in some of our research projects that they are feeling let down, ripped off, and sold out that evokes speculating subjectivities.
Drawing upon projects conducted by the Newcastle Youth Studies Centre using an array of methods including interviews, workshops, and participatory methods such as body mapping and sandboxing, walking ethnographies and policy analysis, the seminar will discuss new formations of class that emerge as forms of debt and fintech have become a normalised feature of young people’s lives that they need to reflexively navigate.