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BUSINESS FAILURE AND SOCIAL INEQUALITY
Author(s) -
Carr Joan
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.1994.tb01009.x
Subject(s) - bankruptcy , deviance (statistics) , inequality , sociology , ethnic group , general partnership , project commissioning , publishing , demographic economics , actuarial science , criminology , law , social psychology , economics , political science , psychology , mathematics , mathematical analysis , statistics
The paper contrasts the characteristics of bankrupt proprietors with those of debtors using Part X of the Bankruptcy Act. The findings, which are based partly on a survey of official files on bankrupts and Part X debtors, reveal class‐related differences between the two groups, with bankrupts coming from relatively underprivileged backgrounds. This finding is moderated by factors such as ethnicity, partnership arrangements and time in business. The data are interpreted sociologically, with special reference to ethnomethodological concepts like deviance and stigma which emphasise the denouncement and symbolic expulsion of debtors; and structuralist explanations which associate differential use of the Bankruptcy Act with social inequality.