Care and Social Reproduction

Karl Marx famously said that 'every child knows that a social formation which did not reproduce the conditions of production at the same time as it produced would not last a year'. But what does it mean for a society to 'reproduce' the conditions of production? In classical Marxist texts we have a clear assessment of how value is produced through surplus labour performed by exploited labourers, but this doesn’t in itself explain how oppression works to reproduce capitalist exploitation.

Social reproduction theory is one of the key ways that theorists have looked to build on Marx to understand oppression alongside class struggle and develop a richer understanding of the many social processes necessary for capital accumulation. We’ll be reading some texts and extracts, both to build our theoretical understanding, but also, crucially, to help us strategise interventions in struggles around social reproduction, both in terms of gendered oppression and in terms of waged care work.

Below are some suggested texts that might help provide some starting points for discussion. But, not having read them won’t be a barrier to participating in the discussion!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-cOCms2qyaL0K-3OMB4mQMvmsKYyERX5/view?usp=sharing

This article from Nancy Fraser is considerably longer than the second text, but it nonetheless provides an accessible and engaging assessment of the 'crisis of care' specific to 'financialised capital' whilst also situating this crisis historically in relation to the development of capitalist gender relations.

https://rs21.org.uk/2016/01/11/the-secret-life-of-the-nhs/

This article from Sophie Walton on the rs21 website, from last years Junior Doctors' strike, lays out the 'crisis of care' in the NHS, examining the specific dynamics that led to strike action and providing perspectives on how we can strategise in our political work around care and the Health Service.