TY - JOUR
T1 - To Lend or Not to Lend to Friends and Kin
T2 - Awkwardness, Obfuscation, and Negative Reciprocity
AU - Wherry, Frederick F.
AU - Seefeldt, Kristin S.
AU - Alvarez, Anthony S.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding for the study came from the Behavioral Economics Program of the Russell Sage Foundation, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, and the Office of the Provost at Yale University. Marlene Orozco (Stanford University, PhD candidate) served as primary interviewer for the project, and staff members at Mission Asset Fund provided substantial support for the project, especially from Aparna Ananthasubramaniam (research coordinator at Mission Asset Fund), Jeremy Jacob (former research coordinator), Tara Robinson, Daniela Salas, Mohan Kanungo, Doris Vasquez, and the entire MAF team. We especially thank MAF’s founder and executive director José Quiñonez and the generosity of the interviewees with whom this project would not have been possible. Direct correspondence to Frederick F. Wherry, Princeton University, Department of Sociology, 102 Wallace Hall, Princeton, New Jersey 08544; e-mail: ffwherry@princeton.edu.
Funding Information:
Funding for the study came from the Behavioral Economics Program of the Russell Sage Foundation, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, and the Office of the Provost at Yale University. Marlene Orozco (Stanford University, PhD candidate) served as primary interviewer for the project, and staff members at Mission Asset Fund provided substantial support for the project, especially from Aparna Ananthasubramaniam (research coordinator at Mission Asset Fund), Jeremy Jacob (former research coordinator), Tara Robinson, Daniela Salas, Mohan Kanungo, Doris Vasquez, and the entire MAF team. We especially thank MAF?s founder and executive director Jos? Qui?onez and the generosity of the interviewees with whom this project would not have been possible.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press.
PY - 2019/12/1
Y1 - 2019/12/1
N2 - Although family and friends can drain a household's finances by requesting personal loans, lenders have proven savvy in how they respond to such requests. Beyond identifying the importance of sincerity tests for curtailing the pressure to help others in one's social circle, the studies of negative social capital do not address why the pressure to lend varies according to the dramaturgical performance strategies of the benefactors. In other words, how do potential lenders manage to say no without saying no? Using interview evidence from clients at the Mission Asset Fund in California, we show how individuals engage in obfuscatory relational work, performing a self that evades the taboo of greedy callousness, while sometimes telling half-truths about not being able to help in the way borrowers would like. Unlike the concept of obfuscatory relational work, however, we focus on expected transfers that do not happen and on unreciprocated gifts that are disguised as loans. The lender and recipient are engaged in face-saving obfuscation; but in the first case, the lender presents a generous self that is emotionally close to the borrower; in the second, the lender helps the recipient of the gift maintain face by avoiding an awkward ask, pretending the "loan" is expected to be repaid. This paper outlines different strategies of obfuscation among adults trying to improve their financial lives and the contingencies at play as a ruse is abandoned in favor of a direct refusal to lend.
AB - Although family and friends can drain a household's finances by requesting personal loans, lenders have proven savvy in how they respond to such requests. Beyond identifying the importance of sincerity tests for curtailing the pressure to help others in one's social circle, the studies of negative social capital do not address why the pressure to lend varies according to the dramaturgical performance strategies of the benefactors. In other words, how do potential lenders manage to say no without saying no? Using interview evidence from clients at the Mission Asset Fund in California, we show how individuals engage in obfuscatory relational work, performing a self that evades the taboo of greedy callousness, while sometimes telling half-truths about not being able to help in the way borrowers would like. Unlike the concept of obfuscatory relational work, however, we focus on expected transfers that do not happen and on unreciprocated gifts that are disguised as loans. The lender and recipient are engaged in face-saving obfuscation; but in the first case, the lender presents a generous self that is emotionally close to the borrower; in the second, the lender helps the recipient of the gift maintain face by avoiding an awkward ask, pretending the "loan" is expected to be repaid. This paper outlines different strategies of obfuscation among adults trying to improve their financial lives and the contingencies at play as a ruse is abandoned in favor of a direct refusal to lend.
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U2 - 10.1093/sf/soy127
DO - 10.1093/sf/soy127
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85069680068
SN - 0037-7732
VL - 98
SP - 753
EP - 775
JO - Social Forces
JF - Social Forces
IS - 2
ER -