Suchergebnisse

Kredit og gæld er klassiske temaer indenfor antropologien, og antropologer beskæftiger sig i stigende grad med kulturelle og moralske forståelser af gæld og kredit i den finansialiserede økonomi. I et antropologisk perspektiv ses gæld både som socialt konstrueret og som moralsk og socialt bindende. Det betyder, at selv om gæld opleves som forpligtende, er tildelingen af denne forpligtelse ikke helt så given, som vi ofte tror. I nogle sammenhænge stigmatiseres gæld og gældsramte, i andre sælges gæld som en vare. Nogle former for gæld italesættes ovenikøbet som "et rådighedsbeløb" og behandles som en indtægt. Artiklen sætter fokus på denne variation i håndtering af gæld i en dansk kontekst med udgangspunkt i feltarbejde blandt unge voksne og frivillige gældsrådgivere. Gennem tre empiriske eksempler vises, hvordan forhandlingen vedrørende gæld varierer, men også hvordan de mest gældsudsatte grupper har det mindste forhandlingsrum.

Consumerism not only promotes discourses emphasizing individualized consumer choices, but it also introduces new electronic, invisible and symbolic forms of money. The present article analyses social exclusion in contemporary Scandinavian society by focusing on patterns of consumption and the social meaning of money in low-income households in Denmark and Sweden. Drawing on recent sociological theory on money and budgeting ( Pahl, 1999 , 2002 ; Singh, 1997 , 1999 ; Zelizer, 1997 , 2005 ) and recent critiques of consumption studies (Edgell, Hetherington and Warde 1996; Gronow and Warde, 2001; Lodziak, 2002 ), it argues that experiences of social and financial exclusion in consumerist society must be related to the amount of money available within the household, the social position that the household occupies, and the social form that this money takes. Pahl (1999) shows that the development of electronic money seems to alter and further constrain access to consumption for the 'credit poor' and 'information poor'. To this 'technological filter', a 'social filter' may be added, as the results suggest that consumption patterns and the social meaning of money in low-income families are largely incompatible with prevailing neo-liberalist ideas of money and consumption in contemporary society.

This article analyses the integration of labour market policy and social security in terms of the new kinds of citizenship regimes that it epitomizes. By means of a qualitative bottom-up analysis focusing on the experiences of re-integrated partially work-disabled employees in Denmark and the Netherlands, the article reveals significant differences in the experiences of social rights relating to labour market participation in the two countries.

The Nordic welfare state has traditionally been associated with principles of universalism, a high degree of collective welfare redistribution and an encompassing state. However in recent years, in line with the rest of Europe, we have seen a tendency towards a more market-oriented welfare state, reflected in policy changes characterised by a renewed division of welfare responsibility between public and private, a movement from a direct protection of citizens towards enabling them to individually satisfy their welfare needs within markets, thereby promoting freedom of choice as a significant dimension of welfare services. However, although this is not usually part of the public debate concerning increased marketisation of the welfare state, these changes require a specific set of individual competences and capacities to navigate, foresee and plan one's own future and calculate one's future welfare needs. Based on empirical data analysing financial practices and orientation amongst two different groups of citizens, the paper discusses the possible implications of this increased individualisation of welfare for different groups of citizens – low-income and middle-income groups. Although both groups show a high degree of willingness to comply with norms associated with consumer-citizenship, clear distinctions arise when we look at the actual possibilities and 'capabilities' of complying with the emerging role and assumed behaviour inherent in the development of the consumer-citizenship welfare regime.

How do different forms of regulation influence working environment and working life? How can centrally formulated programmes create changes at complex, often multi-layered local work places, and how can insights from work life studies shed light on the social mechanisms at stake in different types of regulation? Under the heading of working environment policies, programmes and instruments, the aim of the current issue has been to address these issues. In essences, it is society's intentional attempt to regulate working environment conditions in the workplace. It could be through health and safety legislation and labour inspection. But it is much more than that: The states are not restricted to writing rules, inspecting and sanctioning them. They put together insurances systems and they support massive campaign efforts. And they get labour market parties, nationally, by the sector or within the companies or workplaces, involved in similar activities; sometimes, labour market parties or other stakeholders even do it without prompts from the state. All these efforts are made to a larger or smaller extent because they are seen as beneficial to the health of the employees. But we know surprisingly little about how policies, programmes and instruments work, the social processes at stake, to what extent they do work and whether there could be better ways to reach the overall goal of creating a better working environment. There seems to be several reasons for the lack of knowledge about the processes involved in regulating the working environment (.)

Antropologien vokser frem og vinder indpas i stadigt flere områder af samfundet. Hvor antropologer til tider er blevet udskældt – også af antropologer selv – for ikke at tage aktivt del i væsentlige samfundsmæssige diskussioner og problemstillinger, er der en klar tendens i antropologien i dag til at engagere sig i aktuelle samfundsudfordringer. Hvad end det drejer sig om klima, sundhed, kriminalitet, digitalisering, bæredygtighed, økonomi, integration, aldring eller noget helt andet, er der antropologer til stede. Men hvad er det, antropologien har at byde på? I dette temanummer stiller vi skarpt på antropologiens bidrag til samfundsmæssige udfordringer og spørgsmål. Gennem seks konkrete casestudier viser vi, hvordan antropologien kan bidrage med såvel kritiske indsigter som konstruktive indspark. I denne introduktion til temanummeret udfolder vi de antropologiske bidrag, idet vi særligt søger at udkrystallisere nogle af de centrale måder, hvorpå antropologien kan gøre en forskel i samfundet.

Anti-consumption literature focuses on consumers' reasons for avoiding certain products or brands emphasizing consumers' symbolic and/or political reasons for avoidance. Consumers' choices have assumedly been voluntary. In contrast, this article discusses anti-consumption as a less explicitly political but also less voluntary form of anti-consumption, termed non-consumption. The empirical data consist of nine in-depth interviews with Danish pregnant women and new mothers regarding potentially 'risky' products. The article shows how their avoidance of certain forms of consumption reflects their struggle to perceive themselves – and be perceived by others – as competent mothers(-to-be). Risk is avoided, minimized, modified or balanced against prevailing habits and discourses of womanhood such as the risk of parabens against ideals of beauty when using cosmetic products. The article contributes to the anti-consumption literature by offering insights into the highly normative but less explicitly political field of constrained consumption reflected in the everyday micro-consumption practices of Danish pregnant women and new mothers.

The purpose of this article is twofold: first, we show how algorithms have become increasingly central to financial credit scoring; second, we draw on this to further develop the anthropological study of algorithmic governance. As such, we describe the literature on credit scoring and then discuss ethnographic examples from two regulatory and commercial contexts: the US and Denmark. From these empirical cases, we carve out main developments of algorithmic governance in credit scoring and elucidate social and cultural logics behind algorithmic governance tools. Our analytical framework builds on critical algorithm studies and anthropological studies where money and payment infrastructures are viewed as embedded in their specific cultural contexts (Bloch and Parry 1989; Maurer 2015). The comparative analysis shows how algorithmic credit scoring takes different forms hence raising different issues in the two cases. Danish banks seem to have developed a system of intensive, yet hidden credit scoring based on surveillance and harvesting of behavioural data, which, however, due to GDPR takes place in restricted silos. Credit scores are hidden to customers, and therefore there has been virtually no public debate regarding the algorithmic models behind scores. In the US, fewer legal restrictions on data trading combined with both widespread and visible credit scoring has led to the development of a credit data market and widespread use of credit scoring by 'affiliation' on the one hand, but also to increasing public and political critique on scoring models on the other.

The purpose of this article is twofold: first, we show how algorithms have become increasingly central to financial credit scoring; second, we draw on this to further develop the anthropological study of algorithmic governance. As such, we describe the literature on credit scoring and then discuss ethnographic examples from two regulatory and commercial contexts: the US and Denmark. From these empirical cases, we carve out main developments of algorithmic governance in credit scoring and elucidate social and cultural logics behind algorithmic governance tools. Our analytical framework builds on critical algorithm studies and anthropological studies where money and payment infrastructures are viewed as embedded in their specific cultural contexts (Bloch and Parry 1989; Maurer 2015). The comparative analysis shows how algorithmic credit scoring takes different forms hence raising different issues in the two cases. Danish banks seem to have developed a system of intensive, yet hidden credit scoring based on surveillance and harvesting of behavioural data, which, however, due to GDPR takes place in restricted silos. Credit scores are hidden to customers, and therefore there has been virtually no public debate regarding the algorithmic models behind scores. In the US, fewer legal restrictions on data trading combined with both widespread and visible credit scoring has led to the development of a credit data market and widespread use of credit scoring by 'affiliation' on the one hand, but also to increasing public and political critique on scoring models on the other.

The purpose of this article is twofold: first, we show how algorithms have become increasingly central to financial credit scoring; second, we draw on this to further develop the anthropological study of algorithmic governance. As such, we describe the literature on credit scoring and then discuss ethnographic examples from two regulatory and commercial contexts: the US and Denmark. From these empirical cases, we carve out main developments of algorithmic governance in credit scoring and elucidate social and cultural logics behind algorithmic governance tools. Our analytical framework builds on critical algorithm studies and anthropological studies where money and payment infrastructures are viewed as embedded in their specific cultural contexts (Bloch and Parry 1989; Maurer 2015). The comparative analysis shows how algorithmic credit scoring takes different forms hence raising different issues in the two cases. Danish banks seem to have developed a system of intensive, yet hidden credit scoring based on surveillance and harvesting of behavioural data, which, however, due to GDPR takes place in restricted silos. Credit scores are hidden to customers, and therefore there has been virtually no public debate regarding the algorithmic models behind scores. In the US, fewer legal restrictions on data trading combined with both widespread and visible credit scoring has led to the development of a credit data market and widespread use of credit scoring by 'affiliation' on the one hand, but also to increasing public and political critique on scoring models on the other.