Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Social Reproduction and Production in Capitalist Society: A Comprehensive Relational Approach — Ayşe Arslan

Although social reproductive work has historically been associated with women in different modes of production, with the spatial separation of reproduction from production in industrial capitalist society, women were further associated with the domestic sphere and reproductive work. The burden of reproductive work on women has increased even more in the last four decades as a result of neoliberal policies. Neoliberalism, which is characterised by the increasing privatisation of social reproduction and worsening labour conditions, has forced more women to accept low-paying, informal jobs while at the same time performing an increased amount of reproductive work in their families due to significant cuts in social welfare provisions.

Today, the COVID-19 pandemic has once again shown the great importance of social reproduction to international and national political economies, and the destructive effects of neoliberalism on lives on a global level. Thus, in both the academic and political arenas, we need once again to underline the centrality of social reproduction and women’s unpaid reproductive labour to society and capitalist production.... 
Social reproduction, which is the foundation of society, is treated as an externality in capitalist economies that privatize the gains that can be capitalized and socialize the expenses that can be externalized. 

Developing Economics
Social Reproduction and Production in Capitalist Society: A Comprehensive Relational Approach
Ayşe Arslan

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