230133 VO M5 Social Reproduction in Crisis (2025S)

The conceptual lens of social reproduction makes visible a whole sphere of unpaid human activity as pertinent for the production of economic value in a capitalist economy. Without the unpaid (gendered and racialised) reproductive work (caring work, domestic work etc.) there would be no workers to make the goods and perform the services that lie at the heart of the production of value in capitalism and create the very conditions for the economy to function. The analytical perspective of social reproduction draws attention to the fact that the sphere of production and the sphere of reproduction are ‘co-­ constitutive’, they go hand in hand and depend on each other. The precise configurations of this relationship are historically and geographically specific and depend on specific socio-­cultural and politico-­ economic circumstances that require an examination of families, friendships, homes, neighbourhoods and communities and the shifts towards waged forms of reproductive labour, along with an analysis of the specifics of welfare regimes and the activities of social movements. What happens when these configurations fall out of sync and are destabilised? What causes a crisis of social reproduction and how are crises resolved? This lecture introduces students to feminist scholarship on social reproduction, focussing in particular on analyses of a current crisis of social reproduction across the globe, investigating origins, dynamics and effects. Students will be introduced to key theorists and approaches, learn about central debates past and present in the analysis of social reproduction, and engage with current empirical research on the crisis across different domains of economy and society, such as households, education, healthcare, social work, welfare and eldercare. The lecture will focus on general systemic problems leading to identified crisis phenomena and will discuss particular policy responses as well as the struggles of social movements.