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Interpreting and Questioning Finance As Social Relationships

Thursday, 19 July 2018: 15:30-17:20
Location: 104A (MTCC NORTH BUILDING)
RC02 Economy and Society (host committee)

Language: English

Sociologists frequently understand finance in essentialist terms—as the creation and brokerage of capital.  However, in light of growing interest in relational and transactional approaches to sociology, this session collects together theoretically-driven empirical research that investigates finance as social relationships, as well as papers that directly refute this framing. Fieldwork includes online platform lending in India; institutional investors and multinational corporations' relations with one another in shareholder engagement; insurance companies' interpretation of risk using gender categories; U.S. household strategies to use formal finance to limit their support of kin; and informal income-sharing arrangements as relational work among formal sector workers in Côte d’Ivoire. Together these papers present the opportunity to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of prioritizing relations and relational work in empirical research on finance.
Session Organizer:
Aaron PITLUCK, Illinois State University, USA
Chair:
Aaron PITLUCK, Illinois State University, USA
Oral Presentations
Relational Work for Sustainable Finance: Exploring the Political Dynamics of Shareholder Engagement on Environmental, Social and Governance Issues
Jean-Pascal GOND, City, University of London, United Kingdom; Niamh O'SULLIVAN, Nottingham University Business School, United Kingdom; Santi FURNARI, City, University of London, United Kingdom
Gendered Finance? Comparing Insurance Organizations
Vera LINKE, Bielefeld University, Germany
Kin or Credit? Credit Use and the Withholding of Support to Kin.
Maude PUGLIESE, McGill University, Canada; Céline LE BOURDAIS, McGill University, Canada; Shelley CLARK, McGill University, Canada
Income-Sharing As Relational Work: Understanding Informal Financial Transactions in Côte D'ivoire
Kristen MCNEILL, Brown University, USA; Rachael PIEROTTI, World Bank, USA
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