Melissa García?Lamarca|Maria Kaïka
‘Mortgaged lives’: the biopolitics of debt and housing financialisation
University of Manchester|University of Manchester
paper expands conceptual framework within examine mortgage debt reconceptualising mortgages biotechnology technology power life forges intimate relationship global financial markets everyday life human labour taking seriously materiality mortgage contracts means forging new embodied practices financialisation urge need move beyond policy macroeconomicsbased analysis housing financialisation argue attention needs paid funnelling landrelated capital flows goes hand hand signing significant parts future labour decisionmaking capacity wellbeing mortgage debt repayments paper offers two key insights first exemplifies macroeconomic policy changes could led financialisation housing markets without parallel biopolitical process mobilised mortgage contracts integrate social reproduction workforce speculative global realestate practices second expands framework analysis emerging literature financialisation subjectification focusing mortgage defaults evictions crisis spain document spains 19972007 realestate boom promise mortgages means optimise income wealth enrolled livelihoods cycles global financial realestate speculation home security future wealth became directly dependent fluctuations financial products interest rates capital accumulation strategies rooted built environment 2008 unemployment escalated housing prices collapsed mortgages became punitive technology led least 500 000 foreclosures 250 000 evictions spain