Debtor's Prison in the Neoliberal State: 'Debtfare' and the Cultural Logics of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005
50 Pages Posted: 8 May 2015
Date Written: 2012
Abstract
The enactment of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (“BAPCPA”) of 2005, amending the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, marks a transformation in bankruptcy law and policy that is representative of larger shifts in dominant economic and political models from “embedded liberalism” to free market “neoliberalism.” BAPCPA’s provisions are part of the new practices of the emergent neoliberal state as they relate to the American population’s middle class segment. In disciplining the middle class, BAPCPA shifts the risk and the responsibility of the lending relationship onto consumer debtors. BAPCPA does this by keeping financially distressed individuals servicing debt obligations both inside and outside the bankruptcy system. Socio-cultural theory provides a broadened frame for understanding the economic shift reflected in this fundamental transformation in legal mandates.
Keywords: Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, BAPCPA, Bankruptcy Reform Act, bankrupt, bankruptcy, embedded liberalism, free market neoliberalism, liberalism, middle class, debt, debtor
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