Normalization of Mortgages in Media Discourse through Affects and Instructions

Abstract

Mortgage loans have become one of the main instruments of becoming a homeowner in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This article brings into question how media discourse performs the normalization of mortgages. An analysis of newspapers, websites and television news broadcasting transcripts from 1996 to 2016 in the Czech Republic identified a production of affects which can be articulated through specific emotions as the main mode of mortgage performance. These create a sense of urgency to take on a loan before it becomes “too late” and construct mortgages as successful financial products. This is further supplemented by articles which offer instructions on how to become debtors. The article discusses how the normalization of mortgages, through a rather monolithic media discourse, is unable to articulate a different version of the housing system that would rely less on homeownership achieved through mortgages.

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