Rhetoric in Debt

Rhetoric in Debt, volume 1, examines the complex role of indebtedness within modern American society. Kellie Sharp-Hoskins moves beyond traditional views of finance to analyze debt as a powerful cultural system. By integrating scholarship from economics, accounting, and communication studies, the author explores how debt functions as a rhetorical construct. This work investigates the student-loan crisis, medical debt, and municipal bond abuses to show how financial obligations intersect with systems of wealth, rule, and race.

This academic text provides a critical perspective on how debt organizes social and cultural relations. It addresses how the concept of debt creates distinctions between different social classes and perceived levels of productivity. Through the lenses of public finance and rhetoric, the book reveals how financial calculations can exacerbate existing inequities. Rhetoric in Debt offers a new conceptual framework for understanding the deep connections between language, economics, and social justice.