Identity Theft, Trust Breaches, and the Production of Economic Insecurity.

This article examines how identity theft—a widespread breakdown in information systems affecting tens of millions of Americans annually—serves as a significant source of economic insecurity by undermining trust at interpersonal, organizational, and systemic levels. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 45 identity theft victims from diverse racial and economic backgrounds, the study finds that low-income individuals and people of color primarily experience identity theft as a breach of interpersonal trust, leading them to sever social ties and informal support networks, while middle- and upper-income White individuals tend to blame organizations and demand institutional protections. The author develops a trust-based theory of insecurity that highlights how these distinct trust breaches shape subjective feelings of financial precariousness and coping strategies, with race and class influencing both the interpretation of identity theft and responses to it. The findings underscore the complex social dynamics of trust and inequality in the information age and suggest broader implications for understanding economic insecurity arising from failures in data governance and information systems.