Date of Award
Spring 2021
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Department/Major
Communication Studies
First Advisor
Dr. Jill Tyler
Second Advisor
Dr. Leah Seurer
Third Advisor
Professor Karen Davies
Keywords
consumer credit; financial literacy; credit communication; personal finance; finance curriculum
Subject Categories
Business | Communication
Abstract
This thesis observes the credit system’s communicative patterns and stigmas that have fueled consumer ignorance and discouraged valuable financial discourse and education. For generations, credit consumers have been kept in the dark from imperative personal finance topics. Parents and guardians are not having conversations with their children about credit at home, and neither are a majority of educators. The lack of credit communication at home and in the classroom has ultimately created a massive population that is vulnerable to the manipulation of credit issuers and companies. Consumer ignorance and vulnerability due to the exclusion of credit from conversations and curriculums have created damaging communicative patterns and stigmas surrounding credit and personal finance. These communicative patterns and stigmas have created emotional and material barriers that barricade current and future consumers from financial enlightenment and freedom. We as a society must remove these barriers by communicating with children and educating adolescents on the realities of the credit system and personal finance. So, let’s talk about (cred)it.
Recommended Citation
Anderson, Taylor J., "Let's Talk About (Cred)it" (2021). Honors Thesis. 145.
https://red.library.usd.edu/honors-thesis/145