23.10.2023 Reproduction#

Definition#

Social Reprodiction: Work (unpaid & paid) and social practices, institutions and sectors that are essential for regeneration of our lives and society

= feminist reading of capitalism

Three Dimensions

  1. biological reproduction

  2. reproduction of labor force (education, subsistence…)

  3. provision of care

\(\neq\) population growth or marxist reproduction

if workers produce value, who produces the worker?

Neoclassic: only see population growth, but not the determining factors

Goal of SRT: make patterns visible

Domestic Labour Debate#

Housewives:

  • necessary for demand of products

  • and also producers of value (workers)

=> housework is value-generating!

Addition to Marxist Theory: Capitalists, Wage-Laborers, Non-Wage Laborers

But:

  • mostly focues on global north (infomral economies paid work also home based)

  • white hosuehold also paid work (nannies etc)

Privatisation#

Process with four shifts

  1. household responsibilites intensify

  2. societies are atomized

  3. erasion of social provisioning

  4. market forces determining social reproduction

= retreat of the welfare state

Consequences

  • heightened inequality

  • rich households = profit from commodification

  • Poor Households = absorbed increased tasks, longer working day

=> higher reliance on financialization (consumer debt etc.)

Crisis of social reproduction

  • capitalism erodes itself by free riding on this work

    • example: low women participation erodes pension system in germany

  • modern ideal of dual earner = based on exporpriation of labor

Covid-19 crisis#

shaked the foundations of our system

Households = double problems

  • incorporated the cost of social reproduction (home schooling)

  • hit by declining income

Exacerbated by low public health spending

Transformations:

  • Intensification of work at household

    • dependent on race, class, inter-household parity

  • shift in sectors deemed systemrelevant

=> need of decommodigied system of social provision

Questions#

How does the feminist perspective of SRT differ from the Marxist meaning of social reproduction?

The privatization of social reproduction contributes to extending exploitation and has heightened inequalities across and within households. What is the role of financialization in this process?

How does a social reproduction perspective on women’s work contribute to the ana- lysis of inequality?