In Marx, Women and Capitalist Social Reproduction, Martha E. Giménez offers a distinctive perspective on social reproduction which posits that the relations of production determine the relations of social reproduction, and which links the effects of class exploitation and location to forms of oppression predominantly theorised in terms of identity. Grounding her analysis in Marx's theory and methodology, Giménez examines the relationship between class, reproduction and the oppression of women in different contexts such as the reproduction of labour power, domestic labour, feminisation of poverty, and reproductive technologies. Because most people, whether members of dominant or oppressed groups, are working class, she argues that the future of feminist politics is inextricably tied to class politics and the fate of capitalism.
Publication date: October 29, 2019
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part 1: Marxist-Feminist Theory
1 Marxism and Feminism
2 Structuralist Marxism on The Oppression of Women
3 Marxism, and Class, Gender and Race: Rethinking the Trilogy
4 Reflections on Intersectionality
5 What's Material about Materialist Feminism?
Part 2: Capitalist Social Reproduction
6 Population and Capitalism
7 Feminism, Pronatalism, and Motherhood
8 Reproduction and Procreation under Capitalism: A Marxist-Feminist Analysis
9 The Feminisation of Poverty: Myth or Reality?
10 The Dialectics of Waged and Unwaged Work: Waged Work, Domestic Labour, and Household Survival in the United States
11 Loving Alienation: The Contradictions of Domestic Work
12 Self-Sourcing: How Corporations get us to Work Without Pay
13 From Social Reproduction to Capitalist Social Reproduction
Part 3: Whither Feminism?
14 Connecting Marx and Feminism in the Era of Globalisation: A Preliminary Investigation
15 Global Capitalism and Women: From Feminist Politics to Working-Class Women's Politics
16 Capitalism and the Oppression of Women: Marx Revisited
Bibliography
Index
“Both Giménez and the editors of the Historical Materialism book series [...] are to be congratulated on the sweep and timeliness of the work. Feminist philosophers will find it useful as they consider, or reconsider, the key concepts of a politics of resistance.”
—Amy E. Wendling, Hypatia
“These lucid essays are the product of a rare intelligence, allied to an admirably disciplined intellectual practice. By taking seriously the unified application of historical materialist analysis to all aspects of production, including the production and reproduction of human life itself, and applying itself to the circumstances of the present, the collection transcends Marxist Feminism. It should be recognised as a founding text for renewed Marxist theory, fit for the 21st century.”
—Paul Cammack, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books
“As a whole Marx, Women, and Capitalist Social Reproduction provides tools both for constructing a theoretical framework to understand sexual inequality and the reproduction of the labour force and social classes under capitalism, and to guide empirical research in these topics due to its capacity to link abstract theoretical research and empirical hypothesis.”
—Gabriel Sotomayor, Capital & Class
“This collection is a call to feminist scholars to catalog their work in ways that challenge the citation politics that persistently leave feminist thinkers outside modes of knowledge production and preservation. It is part of a legacy of anthologizing the work of praxis-oriented thinkers like Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldúa, Zora Neale Hurston, Angela Davis, Bea Medicine, Sylvia Wynter, Joy James, and Ana Castillo.”
—Mako Fitts Ward, Social Justice
“The novelty of many of Giménez’s concepts and angles of enquiry makes Marx, Women, and Capitalist Social Reproduction a treasure trove of concepts for thinkers of social reproduction to wrestle with.”
—Arianna Introna, Progress in Political Economy
