Nazaret Abalde Bastero

Project Title: Financialized households: a comparative analysis between Spain and the UK
Start date: 01/09/2018

Background

Originally from Galicia, I completed my undergraduate degree in Sociology at the Universidade da Coruña (Spain). Having thoroughly enjoyed my degree, it led me to pursue a postgraduate degree in Sustainability and Social Innovation and a Master’s Degree in methodology and social research. Currently, I am enjoying an FPU-PhD fellowship provided by the Ministry of Education of the Spanish government.

Summary of Research Area

My research interests are primarily located in the relationships between markets, money, morality and the everyday life of individuals. When finances become the way in which people are invited to take part in the great abstraction called economy, a new set of signs, attitudes and claims are introduced into the daily life of households. My aspiration is to study how the life cycles of citizens are increasingly eroded by global financial and economic processes.

I am a researcher in the CONSOCFIN team, where we are currently undertaking a project entitled “Social consequences of financialization: monetary accumulation, lack of employment and social inequality”, led by Dr Matilde Massó and funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain. Concurrently, I am also developing my PhD project as well as assisting in teaching in modules related to methodology and economic sociology at the Universidade da Coruña.

The SSP and The Bauman Institute

Owing to an academic visiting programme, I have the opportunity to get to know the University of Leeds and, specifically, the Bauman institute. Given its main research lines, this institute is the perfect place to explore a subject I feel deeply passionate about. Learning from the leading experts and remarkable researchers in the field on how to analyse the effects of financialization on economy and society is an extraordinary experience.

The City of Leeds

The experience of living abroad is truly incomparable to any other. It is an experience through which one acquires new points of view about the surrounding social universe whilst enriching an individual’s own inner world. Leeds has played a great role in helping me to step out of my comfort zone, to expand my perspectives and above all, to meet exceptional people who I would have never came across if I had not been here.