The poverty of disaster : debt and insecurity in eighteenth-century Britain /

Eighteenth-century Britain is often understood as a time of commercial success, economic growth and improving living standards. Yet during this period, tens of thousands of men and women were imprisoned for failing to pay their debts. The Poverty of Disaster tells their stories, focusing on the expe...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Paul, K. Tawny, 1982- (Author)
Format:	Book
Language:	English
Published:	Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, [2019]
Series:	Cambridge studies in early modern British history.
Subjects:	Debt, Imprisonment for > Great Britain > History > 18th century. Debt > Great Britain > History > 18th century. Middle class > Great Britain > Economic conditions > 18th century. Financial security > Great Britain > History > 18th century. Poverty > Great Britain > History > 18th century. Great Britain > Economic conditions > 18th century.

Table of Contents:

The scale of incarceration : debt and the middling sort
Credit and the economic structures of insecurity
Social structures of insecurity
Keeping in credit : reputation and gender
Occupational identities and the precariousness of work
Punishing the body : harm and the coercive nature of credit
The worth of bodies : debt bondage, value and selfhood.