Marx, Women, and Capitalist Social Reproduction. Marxist-Feminist Essays

Martha E. Giménez

In Marx, Women and Capitalist Social Reproduction, Martha E. Gimenez offers a distinctive perspective on social reproduction which posits that the relations of production determine the relations of social reproduction, and links the effects of class exploitation and location to forms of oppression predominantly theorised in terms of identity. Grounding her analysis on Marx’s theory and methodology, Gimenez 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 women and men, 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.

Biographical Note

Martha E. Gimenez, Ph.D. (U.C.L.A. 1973), is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder. She has published numerous articles and book chapters in topics such as Marxist feminist theory, population theory, ecology, inequality, domestic labour and reproductive technologies.

Readership

Specialists in Marxist theory and methodology and all interested in the oppression of women, Marxist feminist and social reproduction theories, including professors, undergraduate and postgraduate students, and academic libraries.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART ONE:
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 TWO:
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 THREE:
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