Class and kinship in problem debt

Abstract This article discusses problem debt in the Netherlands by considering debtors’ social connectedness, focusing especially on the role of kinship. The socioeconomic stratification approach entails problematic assumptions about class in private debt, but we contend that stratification offers only a partial explanation of why some groups acquire problem debt, and others do not. By instead drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's processual class interpretation, we unveil how individuals from particular debt groups actively and purposively mobilize their social relations network, converting social transactions such as favors and support. We connect this to the multidimensional metaphor of the debt maelstrom—a whirling funnel that occurs when social transactions interlock—and we show how, through the active work of mobilizing social resources, debtors can carve a path out of the vortex.