The Realism of the Balance Sheet: Value Assessments between the Debtors Act and the Picture of Dorian Gray

2 Critical Analysis of Law 363, 2015

20 Pages Posted: 22 Nov 2015

Date Written: 2015

Abstract

This essay examines English parliamentary debates about consumers’ financial means in the context of the 1869 Debtors Act, which oversaw working-class imprisonment for debt. Debates reveal a shift in the financial epistemology favored by participants, from a view of means based on what I term social credit, to a view of means based on a balance sheet paradigm. The rise and naturalization of the balance-sheet paradigm was both interrogated and challenged by one of the era’s most controversial texts, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. I rely on the novel to examine the deep implications of the shift for the history of consumption, and to recall the drama it involved.

Keywords: Debtors Act; balance sheet; The Picture of Dorian Gray; consumption

Suggested Citation

Rosenberg, Anat, The Realism of the Balance Sheet: Value Assessments between the Debtors Act and the Picture of Dorian Gray (2015). 2 Critical Analysis of Law 363, 2015, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2691329

Anat Rosenberg (Contact Author)

Reichman University ( email )

Israel
0524000051 (Phone)
469100 (Fax)

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