Developing a sociocritical approach to financial literacy

The recent global macroeconomic instability and the complexity of the financial system have impacted people's financial responsibilities and increased their financial vulnerability. Financial literacy (FL) is a concept that has emerged as a response to mitigate the negative impacts of this scenario and looking to provide the tools individuals need to thrive. It is considered "a North American notion" (Lazarus, 2016) associated with the economics sciences. Several FL definitions (Solis, 2018) coincide with a traditional view of literacy (Vasquez, 2003), representing the "official" discourse of dominant institutions led by multilateral organizations, national governments, NGOs, and think tanks (FAIR Money Research Collective, 2015).

However, FL initiatives are not producing the expected results. Beyond the critiques of scholars calling for renewed designs (Fernandes et al., 2014), it seems relevant to question FL's democratic value, impact on equity and social justice, and its relationship with power. This discussion must include variables such as culture, identity, gender, race, and power (The Politics of Learning Writing Collective, 2017) to recognize FL's political character. Given its close relation to neoliberal ideology (Hütten et al., 2018; Willis, 2017), it could reproduce economic, gender, racial, and other inequities (Pinto & Coulson, 2011)