In redefining social reproduction to mean only the reproduction of labor-power, Social Reproduction Theory has deemphasized a central insight of Marxist feminism-the necessary role that household production plays in the reproduction of capitalist society. A model of production in capitalism-in which households, capitalist firms, and the state rely on inputs from the other sectors in their production process to perpetuate their own existences and in turn that of capitalist society as a whole-shows that it is necessary to tie the household and household production to the dynamics of production and reproduction in capitalist society. There is no social reproduction without "societal reproduction," as all production and reproduction in capitalist society are shaped by accumulation. Thus, promoting human and environmental well-being requires fundamentally changing the production processes that take place in households and elsewhere, not merely redistributing the costs and benefits of that production.
Social Reproduction Theory, as advanced by scholars such as Bhattacharya (2017) and Ferguson (2019), is at its core a theory of the revolutionary capacity of “unproductive” workers such as teachers, nurses, and social workers who are disproportionately women and disproportionately employed by the state. However, Social Reproduction Theory overlooks the contradictory and antagonistic role of the state in the lives of people, as the reproduction of labor power in capitalism proceeds via antagonism and state repression. The task of teachers, nurses, and social workers is the production of not just any life but that of a docile, exploitable worker. JEL classification: B51, B54, P1, I3
This paper describes the household waste management practices of self-described sustainable households, focusing on the intentional actions the members of these households take to reduce environmental harm. Data from qualitative interviews about household waste management practices related to the disposal of trash, “packaging”, and recycling are analyzed using a Marxist-feminist model of household production. For the households in this study, packaging is a powerful reminder of their collusion with capital, eliciting powerful and unexpected negative reactions in interviews. At the same time, practices that involve allowing organic matter to decompose in the backyard, leaving urine unflushed, or placing human feces in the clothes washing machine or bathtub elicited few negative reactions, and recycling made people feel happy. Packaging and waste are necessary in capitalism because of the spatial division of labor and production, part of the constitutive contradiction between social needs and private production. I show how a division of labor and production that is necessary for accumulation manifests itself in an inherent antagonism toward human well-being in a discussion of the exhaustion, frustration, and conflict generated for highly ecologically oriented parents who are just trying to do their best to live a sustainable life in capitalist society despite the limits to the efficacy of these efforts.
This article builds on Marxist-feminist analyses of the links between the household, the economy, and the state through a discussion of recycling, pointing to the ways the unwaged work of household waste sorting contributes to capitalism’s crisis-prone dynamic of overaccumulation. Household waste sorting is an instance of work transfer – a reorganization of labor and day-to-day life by the state and industry in which production is shifted from industry into households without compensation. A periodization of ‘waste regimes’ reveals how the state management of waste both mirrors and is implicated in accumulation regimes, their crises, and their resolutions. The current recycling crisis demonstrates the contradictory nature and futility of recycling in capitalism, and the specific manner in which the work transfer involved in household waste sorting contributes to accumulation and crisis.
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