Credit among the French Working Class: The Example of a Shop in Lens

• Published in: Mana (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 7 - 38
• Main Authors: Avanza, Martina, Laferte, Gilles, Penissat, Etienne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: 01.04.2006
• Subjects: Consumers; Credit; France; Trust; Working Class
• ISSN: 0104-9313

How do we explain the survival of a noninstitutionalized form of credit in modern France's fully developed economy? Consulting the files of a small textile & clothing shop catering for workers from the Northern French mining basin from the 1930s to the present day -- allows us to compile a sociological profile of its clientele &, at the same time, investigate the forms of direct credit provided by the store owner to his customers. This over-the-counter credit between the Jewish trader & the Polish Catholic workers evades public control. Condemned as both usurious & economically irrational by public authorities since Liberation, this type of consumer credit nonetheless prospered as late as the 1970s by exploiting the loopholes in contemporary juridical & financial regulations -- a practice founded on long-term mutual trust & on the control exerted by groups & interpersonal relations (family, neighbours, friends.), blended with the multiple interactions between people from similar migratory backgrounds. Sharing the same language & familiar with the patterns of consumption of Catholics -- the ostentatious purchases of working class Poles -- ensured the dependence of these clients on store owners who, for their part, provided access to luxury goods. Tables, References. Adapted from the source document.