Jeanne Lazarus

About the universality of a concept: Is there a financialization of daily life in France?

Based on the French case, this article aims to challenge the concept of “financialization of daily life”. This notion does not perfectly describe the transformation of money management experienced by French households; compared to other developed countries, their money is kept at a remove from financial markets, particularly as the French retail banking system, built in the 1960s, is designed to “definancialize” and the French welfare state maintains its protective position. The French economy is nonetheless deeply financialized, with great consequences on job and income instability. Public authorities tackle the problem from this angle, with policies increasingly focused on households’ money. Social work is expected not only to be an intermediary between individuals and social legislation, but to aid households in navigating their engagements with commercial entities. This leads us to claim that public intervention is becoming monetized.

Tenir ses comptes et bien se tenir: L’apprentissage de l’autonomie par la banque

Partant de l’hypothese qu’a propos des jeunes adultes, « etre autonome » signifie dans bien des cas etre autonome financierement, cet article se propose d’observer les modalites et les contraintes de cette autonomie financiere en se centrant sur les rapports entre les jeunes et les banques. A partir d’une enquete par entretiens et par observation, nous montrons que la banque offre l’autonomie en echange d’une nouvelle sorte d’heteronomie et que le discours et la socialisation bancaire vis-a-vis des jeunes sont marques par une ambiguite constitutive. La seconde partie de l’article, qui s’appuie sur des entretiens avec des « jeunes urbains diplomes », analyse la facon dont ces derniers s’adaptent aux normes imposees par la banque et au cout pour eux d’eventuelles resistances.