Abstract
In the context of my field research, whose main topic covers various manifestations of the customers' strategies at the pawn-shop, I deal, besides other things, with the issue of a various concept of value. In the case of a pawning the concept of value is not related only with the price of the collateral in cash, but disintegrates into two levels - the first of which can be seen as economic and the other as symbolic.
In the case of an economic concept, the value of the pawned object is set with regard to its possible selling price, but my observation shows that with some knowledge of the context it is also possible to take into account the value of the item for the person who offers it as collateral. On the other hand, the symbolic concept of value is related to the reasons, that the borrower consider as important when deciding to accept a loan fee.
The natures of these reasons don't have to be only economic - important concepts are e.g. self-respect, prestige, position in the social hierarchy of a particular community, confirmation of social status, ...etc. The above-mentioned justification of the pawn-loan may often seem irrational at the first sight.
The lack of knowledge of the context often raises the idea that the financial literacy of pawn-shop customers is very poor. However, this perception of the issue is not complex, because it does not take into account the specific situation of borrowers.
Therefore it may often lead to misleading conclusions, and may also initiate some institutional measures that do not help the persons concerned but it may rather harm them. From the above, the question arises whether the commonly used definition of financial literacy should be applied to all levels of society - or whether marginalized groups use different version of financial literacy customized according to their own living conditions?