Governed by debt: the case of young adult debtors with Corfo loans in Santiago, Chile

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the case of the Corfo student loan system from the perspective of theories of governmentality. Using the empirical data from a survey and a series of interviews conducted by the author, our argument proposes that this form of credit encourages a process of subjectivisation of young debtors via three elements. The first element are the banking enclaves that this credit system model creates to safeguard the financial risks of transforming “poor subjects” into “financial subjects”. Second are the consequences of submitting to pervasive indebtedness, with the annual requirement of guarantees or jointly liable co-debtors. Third are the high financial and personal costs that debtors face in having to meet their financial commitments from month to month.