Financial calculations and social boundaries in a debt and cash economy

Abstract

The article explores frameworks of calculation and value attribution in women´s everyday financial practices in the context of a cash and debt economy. The analysis is based on ethnographic information, as well as a survey carried out in 2007 within marginal sectors of the city of Guadalajara. It is argued that the struggle to increase and make the most of income, resources and capitals engages social and cultural aspects and involves multiple dimensions of everyday life. Many of the relations entailed – which might not be strictly defined as capitalist – may act to mediate and structure monetary processes.