Women and Work: Feminism, Labour, and Social Reproduction

by Susan Ferguson

Overview

Feminism is once again on the political agenda. Across the world women are taking to the streets to protest unfair working conditions, abortion laws, and sexual violence. They are demanding decent wages, better schools and free childcare. But why do some feminists choose to fight for more women CEOs, while others fight for a world without CEOs? To understand these divergent approaches, Susan Ferguson looks at the ideas that have inspired women to protest, exploring the ways in which feminists have placed work at the centre of their struggle for emancipation. Two distinct trajectories emerge: 'equality feminism' and 'social reproduction feminism'. Ferguson argues that socialists have too often embraced the 'liberal' tendencies of equality feminism, while neglecting the insights of social reproduction feminism. Engaging with feminist anti-work critiques, Ferguson proposes that women's emancipation depends upon a radical reimagining of all labour and advocates for a renewed social reproduction framework as a powerful basis for an inclusive feminist politics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745338729
Publisher:	Pluto Press
Publication date:	11/20/2019
Series:	Mapping Social Reproduction Theory
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Susan Ferguson is Associate Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada, teaching Youth and Children's Studies and Digital Media and Journalism.

Table of Contents

1. The Labour Lens 2. Work, Character and Independence 3. Domestic Labour as Work 4. Emancipation Through Women's Waged Labour? 5. A Political Economy of 'Women's Work': Producing Patriarchal Capitalism 6. Capitalism's Complex Social Reproductive Labour: Forces of Dehumanization and Resistance 7. Productivist Feminism and Anti-Work Politics

Editorial Reviews

"Susan Ferguson’s attention to labor in the history of feminist thought is timely and urgent as is her attention to capital’s intensified harvest from the devalued work of social reproduction. Scholars and students across disciplines will find here valuable insights into the history of feminist theory and social movement."

Rosemary Hennessy

Susan Ferguson has been a leader in the efforts to develop social reproduction theory. With Feminist Thinking About Work, she now takes on the historical context for its development.  Her focus on the history of the concept 'labour' in Marxist and feminist thought brilliantly reshapes our understanding of our past, present, and future.”
 

Lise Vogel

Susan Ferguson’s attention to labour in the history of feminist thought is timely and urgent as is her attention to capital’s intensified harvest from the devalued work of social reproduction. Scholars and students across disciplines will find here valuab

'Susan Ferguson has been a leader in the efforts to develop social reproduction theory. In this book, she takes on the historical context for its development. Her focus on the history of 'labour' in Marxist and feminist thought brilliantly reshapes our understanding of the concept and its role in analysing our past, present, and future' Lise Vogel, author of 'Marxism and the Oppression of Women'

From the Publisher

'A masterful analysis of three centuries of feminist deliberations on work, carefully tracing how the fault lines of social-reproduction theory emerged'  

'Historical Materialism

'Through an innovative interpretation of key historical and contemporary feminist texts, this compellingly written book offers socialist-feminist activists an excellent introduction to social reproduction theory and its political implications.'

Johanna Brenner

'Shines a searching light on the interactions between class, race and gender in the reproduction of contemporary global capitalism. This book marks a milestone in socialist feminist theory.'

Ursula Huws

'A crucial and much needed book. Analyzing more than two hundred years of feminist theorizing on work and oppression, Ferguson rigorously unpacks the dilemmas we face when we fail to problematize what work is, and what it should be to bring about freedom. Essential reading for socialist feminists.'

Sara Farris