Making sense of the financialization of households: state of the art and beyond

Abstract

Building on, and going beyond, the state-of-the-art literature, this article aims to advance the analysis and conceptualization of the financialization of households. It argues that there is a need to better conceptualize the household and that the relations between households and other actors in financialized capitalism require further elaboration. Its contribution rests on providing a high-level review of literature and on proposing a relational and activity-orientated approach to the household as a micro-level social institution performing its activities through a web of relationships. Furthermore, it builds on the concept of ‘financial chains’ to draw attention to power relations and transfers of value between households and other economic actors. In doing so, the article also highlights the uneven ways through which households are inserted into such ‘financial chains’ and explores social, spatial and temporal dimensions of household financialization. Finally, it suggests avenues for further research.