Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of debt and discusses both its functioning as a technique of power, and the practices of resistance that challenge it. It first situates the emergence of debt in the context of the shifting rationalities of government that marked the transition from welfarism to neoliberalism. It then argues that the constitution of subjectivity in this regime implies a dialectic of desire and indebtedness. Turning to the example of the student strike in Quebec, it concludes by showing how debt reframes political divisions, and emphasizes the role of education in the development of autonomy and solidarity.

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