This book is about ‘financial inclusion’. Roughly speaking, this refers to policies that seek to encourage individual participation in the financial system. This policy agenda has sparked strong criticisms. A key worry is that financial inclusion ultimately involves shifting people from the security provided by the welfare state and exposing them to the risks and insecurity associated with financial markets.

The aim of this book is to outline and respond to these criticisms. Some of these criticisms are powerful and highlight important shortcomings with financial inclusion. However, one of the key aims of this book is to claim that the financial inclusion agenda should not be rejected in its entirety. The book claims that there is not a single version of financial inclusion and it is possible to shape financial inclusion in different ways. The book suggests that it is important for supporters of financial inclusion to engage with the criticisms but then develop different models of financial inclusion. Inevitably, this will mean further exploration of financial inclusion as different models of financial inclusion may emerge and be examined. The main point is to try and design different approaches rather than giving up on financial inclusion altogether.

This book uses ‘financialisation’ as a thread to connect different criticisms of financial inclusion. Financialisation is itself the subject of an ever-expanding literature and has many different facets. The most relevant part of the financialisation literature for financial inclusion is the claim that the effort by governments and other organisations to encourage greater participation in the financial system is part of a wider effort to turn people from citizens into investor-subjects. The investor-subject is supposed to make financial investments to secure their own future. A key problem, then, is that investor-subjects are exposed to the risks associated with financial markets and that this ultimately harms individual welfare.

The book looks at what this investor-subject critique means in areas such as saving. One of the points made by the book is that it is important not to see the financial system as separate from the wider economy and so the book looks at the case of housing. The global financial crisis of 2007–08 highlights the way that the financial system and housing are intertwined.