Debt as Culture: The Normalization of Borrowed Living
For much of human history, debt carried a profound social stigma. In agrarian societies, indebtedness often meant vulnerability, dependence, and moral failing. Victorian values championed thrift, savings, and living within one’s means. The phrase “neither a borrower nor a lender be” from Shakespeare’s Hamlet echoed through generations as conventional wisdom. Yet, within just a few … Read more