Roundtable: Credit, Debt, and Inequality Roundtable. Building the Research Agenda on Credit, Debt, and Inequality: Debates, Methods, and New Directions

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Overview

This roundtable brings together rising scholars to reflect on the evolving politics of credit, debt, and inequality. Participants will engage in a robust discussion that bridges multiple subfields, including Urban Politics, American Political Economy, and Race and Ethnic Politics, while also connecting across the disciplines of Political Science, Sociology, and Consumer Science. The session emphasizes interdisciplinary theorizing and the importance of diverse methodological approaches, including historical analysis, ethnography, and quantitative modeling, to unpack the complexities of debt and credit as lived experiences and structural phenomena. Panelists will consider how credit systems reproduce racial and other social hierarchies, the role of policy in exacerbating or mitigating inequalities, and the ways individuals and communities navigate and resist these systems. By weaving together insights from diverse fields and methodologies, this roundtable seeks to chart new pathways for understanding, addressing, and teaching about the intertwined crises of credit, debt, and inequality in the United States and beyond. Scholars, practitioners, and students interested in racial politics, interdisciplinary approaches, and the intersections of theory and practice are encouraged to attend and contribute to this vital conversation.

Section

• Working Groups / Working Groups

Chair

• Patricia D. Posey, The University of Chicago

Participants

• Megan Doherty Bea, University of Wisconsin–Madison

• Rhea Myerscough, Butler University

• Tess Elizabeth Wise, Wake Forest University