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The article examines ways of re-formation of the (German) middle class caused by the perception of social (and individual) crises (in our example over-indebtedness) and associated uncertainty. Which are the strategies that middle-class members develop to cope with those perceived crises and which factors contribute to the originating of new civic formations? In that context, we emphasize on the impact of culture-specific orientation patterns regarding specific societal groups. We refer to the work of Douglas and Wildavsky [1982] and Cornia, Dressel and Pfeil [2016] and concentrate on the collective dimension in asking, how does the middle class and parts of it like societal subgroups (in our example overindebted people) perceive and interpret social developments and crises (framing)? Which is the relationship between the middle class and institutional actors and the confidence they have in these actors, especially regarding the dealing with social crises and connected solutions? Who do middle-class members blame for the crises and the risks of social decline (blaming)? This is a central question directly connected with the way of dealing with risks and the assumption of responsibility.
The authors examine identity strategies of middle-class couples who come under pressure of over-indebtedness. Based on biographical interviews collected in a qualitative panel study in three waves, they explore the question of how identity is worked on in the couple and how identity changes when social decline threatens. The theory-generating analysis brings out patterns of coping with over-indebtedness and self-placement described along the notions of 'continuity', 'modification' and 'moratorium'. Similarly, they explore how lifeworlds are constructed in and with over-indebtedness as a couple.
This book is a translation of an original German edition. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation.