Social Provisioning as a Starting Point for Feminist Economics

Abstract

The past decade has seen a proliferation of writing by feminist economists. Feminist economists are not identified with one particular economic paradigm, yet some common methodological points seem to be emerging. I propose making these starting points more explicit so that they can be examined, critiqued, and built upon. I use the term ''social provisioning'' to describe this emerging methodology. Its five main components are: incorporation of caring and unpaid labor as fundamental economic activities; use of well-being as a measure of economic success; analysis of economic, political, and social processes and power relations; inclusion of ethical goals and values as an intrinsic part of the analysis; and interrogation of differences by class, race-ethnicity, and other factors. The paper then provides brief illustrations of the use of this methodology in analyses of US welfare reform, gender and development, and feminist ecological economics.

Consumption as a Social Process within Social Provisioning and Capitalism: Implications for Heterodox Economics

“…The continuation of the life-process, human well-being, and ethical judgment are central to the concept. Since it encompasses non-market activities, culture, and ecosystems, social provisioning allows for a broader and deeper formulation of economic activity, beyond the most visible occurrence of "market exchange" and beyond monetary production (Gruchy 1987;Nelson 1993;Dugger 1996;Power 2004;Lee 2009Lee , 2011Jo 2011;Lee and Jo 2011;Todorova 2013 a, b).…”

“…Specifically, as noted, non-waged caring and domestic labor is an integral part of social provisioning, and ought to be acknowledged from the beginning of analysis (Power 2004). Total social product includes commodity (produced for market exchange and driven by the motive of making money) and non-commodity (not for market) output.…”

Social Provisioning Process and Socio-Economic Modeling

“…pluralistic rather than monistic, social rather than individualistic, open rather than closed, procedural rather than equilibrial, value-directed rather than value-neutral, retroductive rather than deductive, dynamic-evolutionary-historical rather than static-optimal-ideal (O'Hara 1992;Dugger 1996;Lawson 2006;Power 2004;Lee 2008).…”

“…Then economic activities, both market and nonmarket activities, such as self-interested and cooperative behaviors, control and resistance, accumulation of capital, and provisioning of welfare can be explained in a comprehensive manner. That is, market provisioning is a subset of social provisioning (Dugger 1996;Power 2004). The material basis of social provisioning is the structure of production, technology, and natural environment, the social basis is socio-economic classes, and the cultural basis is the society-specific value system (including a set of norms and beliefs) (Hayden 1982;Stevenson 1987;Lee and Jo 2011).…”

“…It is also well acknowledged now by many heterodox economists that, given the contested disciplinary landscape, the concept of social provisioning is a useful guidepost for the development of heterodox economics. Institutionalists, Post Keynesians, Marxians, social economists, feminists, ecological economists, among others, have made valuable contributions to the advancement of heterodox economics with the view of the social provisioning process (Gruchy 1987;Stevenson 1987;Dugger 1996;Lee 2008;Lawson 2003;Davis 2006;Power 2004). 1 Heterodox economics refers to historically grounded theories of the social provisioning process and the community of economists who produce such theories.…”