
Debt's Grip
Risk and Consumer Bankruptcy
University of California Press
1st Edition
Published on 5. August 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
308 pages
978-0-520-39415-5 (ISBN)
Description
Debt's Grip tells the story of financial struggle in the United States. Drawing on original data from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, a landmark long-term study, the authors use the words of bankruptcy filers themselves to shed light on their battles to keep their homes and their cars, pay for healthcare and higher education, care for their children, find adequate employment, retire, negotiate with debt collectors, and confront discrimination in lending. Laying bare the consequences of risk privatization, this book makes a powerful case for why the United States must confront the structural inequities that cause so many-especially Black families, women, and the elderly-to struggle in today's economy.
More details
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Berkerley
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
31 tables, 12 b-w figures
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
635 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-520-39415-5 (9780520394155)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
08/2025
1st Edition
Naval Institute Press
€28.99
Available for download
Persons
Pamela Foohey is the Allen Post Professor of Law at the University of Georgia. Robert M. Lawless is the Max L. Rowe Professor of Law at the University of Illinois. Deborah Thorne is Professor of Sociology at the University of Idaho.
Content
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Living under the Threat
of Financial Collapse
1. Filing Bankruptcy and the Bankruptcy System
2. Struggling to Survive
3. Staying Home and Going Places
4. Staying Alive
5. Staying Out of the Red
6. Blackness of Bankruptcy
7. All the Single Ladies (with Children) in Bankruptcy
8. The Riskiest Years-Bankrupt Seniors
9. Lawsuits and Debt Collectors
10. "Resourced" Bankruptcy Filers
Conclusion: Reforming Bankruptcy's Injustices
Methodological Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Living under the Threat
of Financial Collapse
1. Filing Bankruptcy and the Bankruptcy System
2. Struggling to Survive
3. Staying Home and Going Places
4. Staying Alive
5. Staying Out of the Red
6. Blackness of Bankruptcy
7. All the Single Ladies (with Children) in Bankruptcy
8. The Riskiest Years-Bankrupt Seniors
9. Lawsuits and Debt Collectors
10. "Resourced" Bankruptcy Filers
Conclusion: Reforming Bankruptcy's Injustices
Methodological Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index