Sinchuk M.A., Kazantseva E.V. Socio-psychological Aspects of Financialization as a Model for Studying the Nature of Credit (Debt) Behavior
Maxim A. Sinchuk , Ph.D Student, Taganrog Institute of Management and Economics, Taganrog, Russia; bld. 45, Petrovskaya str., Taganrog, Russia, 347900; sin4ukmax@yandex.ru
Elena V. Kazantseva , Ph.D. (Psychology), Associate Professor, Department of Humanities, Taganrog Institute of Management and Economics, Taganrog, Russia; bld. 45, Petrovskaya str., Taganrog, Russia, 347900; Taganrog Chekhov Institute (branch) of the Russian State Economic University (RINH), Taganrog, Russia; bld. 48, Initsiativnaya str., Taganrog, Russia, 347900; Klein44@yandex.ru
The relevance of the research lies in the need to consider the important socio-cultural changes taking place in modern society and assess their degree of influence on human behavior. One of the key dominants of modernity is the process of financialization of all key areas of human life, which contributes to the formation of a new type of person, Homo economicus. At the same time, the mechanism of credit (debt) relations is a key component of the implementation of this model.
The purpose of this article is to describe the socio-cultural phenomenon of “financialization”, which acts as a financial discourse that sets the modern interpretation of credit (debt) behavior of both an individual and society as a whole. Based on the literature analysis, the main approaches to describing the levels of implementation of the financialization process in everyday life have been identified.
It was found that the concept of “credit behavior” has gone beyond the purely economic sphere and today has a high socio-psychological burden of cultural practices and political discourse of governing elites. The first broad level of financialization forms the basis of cultural everyday life and modern mentality. The next level is the level of practical activity of banking systems, their fusion with modern digital technologies, which convey the idea of the importance of personal activity in the field of financial transactions, the need to include individual households (families) in credit relations. The last level of impact is personal, which makes it possible to assess how the value-semantic attitudes, motives and needs of a person included in the system of credit (debt) obligations are changing.
Credit behavior is becoming an important tool for regulating feelings of inner freedom and strategies for personal self-development, and is considered by modern people as a necessary condition for social development and personal well-being.
Key words: financialization, credit narrative, creation of needs, debt as a sublimated object, “Homo economicus”
For citation: Sinchuk, M.A., Kazantseva, E.V. (2025). Socio-psychological Aspects of Financialization as a Model for Studying the Nature of Credit (Debt) Behavior. New Psychological Research, No. 4, 37–56. DOI: 10.51217/npsyresearch_2025_05_04_02
Keywords: financialization credit narrative creation of needs debt as a sublimated object “Homo economicus”
Received: 22nd december 2025
Published: 22nd december 2025