COVID-19 has shaken a foundational pillar of global capitalism: the organisation of work. A pivotal dimension of such re-organisation has been the classification of work as essential or not. This article explores the concept of essential work using a global feminist social reproduction perspective. We show that the meaning of essential work is more ambiguous and politicised than it may appear and, although it can be used as a basis to reclaim the value of socially reproductive work, its transformative potential hinges on the possibility to encompass the most precarious and transnational dimensions of (re)production. RÉSUMÉ La pandémie de COVID-19 a ébranlé l'un des piliers du capitalisme mondial : l'organisation du travail. Alors que les travailleurs avaient jusqu'ici été généralement classés en fonction de leurs compétences, pendant la pandémie, la catégorie de « travailleurs essentiels » a pris le devant. Cet article explore le concept de travail essentiel en appliquant une perspective globale et féministe à la question de la reproduction sociale. Nous démontrons que le sens de « travail essentiel » est plus ambigu et politisé qu'il ne paraît, et, bien qu'il soit utilisé dans le but de redonner de la valeur au travail de reproduction sociale, son potentiel transformateur dépend de sa capacité à inclure les dimensions les plus précaires et transnationales de la (re)production.
This article discusses the tensions between job creation and employment quality in the system of accumulation in Mozambique. Addressing job quality is central because Mozambique’s economic structure has mostly failed to generate stable work and pay and dignified working conditions. However, this is neglected in the mainstream view of labour markets, which is dominated by dualisms and limited by its blind spot regarding social reproduction. The authors follow a political economy approach informed by a social reproduction lens and draw on original primary evidence on agro-industries. They argue that low-quality jobs reflect the current mode of organisation of production, in which companies’ profitability depends on access to cheap and disposable labour and relies on workers’ ability to engage in multiple, interdependent paid and unpaid forms of work to sustain themselves. Unless the co-constitutive interrelations between production and reproduction are understood and addressed, the fragmentation of livelihoods will intensify the social system crisis.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.