Credit and community : working-class debt in the UK since 1880 / Sean O'Connell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Connell, Sean (Sean P.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Consumer credit--Great Britain--History.

Consumer credit.

Debt--Great Britain--History.

Debt.

Working class--Great Britain--History.

Working class.

History.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

ix, 305 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009.

Summary:

Credit and Community examines the history of consumer credit and debt in working class communities. Concentrating on forms of credit that were traditionally very dependent on personal relationships and social networks, such as mail-order catalogues and consumer co-operatives, it demonstrates how community-based arrangements declined as more impersonal forms of borrowing emerged during the twentieth century.

Tallymen and check traders moved into doorstep moneylending during the 1960s, but in subsequent decades the loss of their best working class customers, owing to increased spending power and the emergence of a broader range of credit alternatives, forced them to focus on the 'financially excluded'. This 'sub-prime' market was also open for exploitation by unlicensed lenders. Sean O'Connell offers the first detailed historical investigation of illegal moneylending in the UK, encompassing the 'she usurers' of Edwardian Liverpool and the violent loan sharks of Blair's Britain.

Drawing on a wide range of neglected sources, including the archives of consumer credit companies, the records of the co-operative and credit union movements, and government papers, Credit and Community makes a strong contribution to historical understandings of credit and debt. Oral history testimony from both sides of the credit divide is used to telling effect, offering key insights into the complex nature of the relationship between borrowers and lenders.

Contents:

Credit on the doorstep : the tallymen

The rise of the provident system : check trading

Retail capitalism in the parlour : mail order catalogues

The moneylender unmasked

Doorstep moneylending since the 1950s

Formal and informal co-operative credit

Renewed hope for mutuality: credit unions

Conclusion : easy terms remain elusive.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199263318

0199263310

OCLC:

231580445