Stuck in a neither/nor. The impact of over-indebtedness on young people’s entry into adulthood

Based on in-depth interviews with young people experiencing over-indebtedness in Sweden, the paper illustrates the social consequences of over-indebtedness among young adults, particularly in terms of how debt problems affect the entry into adulthood. Combining theories of the indebted subject, social exclusion, emerging adulthood and liminality, the analysis shows that over-indebted young subjects experience several crucial processes of exclusion that limit their possibilities. Analytically, what emerges are subject positions that keep over-indebted young people from approaching normative adulthood, while simultaneously limiting their opportunities to live what is perceived as a normal young person's life. Essentially, they are trapped in a liminal space ‘in between’ ages, in an ongoing but distinctly stagnant transition.