Managing problem debt in Europe: Introduction to the theme section

Abstract

This introduction to the theme section proposes the concept of problemdebt, understood as household debt deviating from actors’ and institutionalizednorms about its course, and presents a relational and historical realist approachfocused on the practices of marking and managing problem debt. We discuss keyemic perspectives on problem debt, agencies directly involved in its management(debt apparatuses), and the interaction of varied understandings, interests andnormative frameworks in complex social fields of problem debt management inwhich states play the leading, but neither monopolistic nor monolithic, role. Finally,we present key findings of the theme section’s five case studies of problemdebt management in sites of advanced and peripheral household financializationin Northwest European cores and Eastern European semi-peripheries, respectively,and the contrasting patterns that emerge from comparisons among them.