Katia Genel
Université Paris Nanterre, Sophiapol (kgenel@parisnanterre.fr; ORCID: 0000-0001- 7168-8584).
Theories of social reproduction through the lens of recognition. The critical significance of recognition of reproductive work
Abstract: Theories of social reproduction, which emerged in the 1970s in the wake of the Wages for Housework movement, have undergone in recent years a process of renewal and broadening of scope. They articulate a demand for recognition, initially focused on domestic labor (but gradually extended to a broader range of reproductive activities) as well on women themselves as political subjects. This article seeks to examine the role of the concept of recognition, whether explicit or implicit, within these theories, by addressing, on the one hand, the struggle for recognition that they express, rooted in feminist movements, and, on the other hand, the modalities through which the value of domestic labor is recognized within the theoretical dialogue they engage with Marxism. It appears that the demand for recognition articulated by these theories aims less at broadening recognition to reproductive labor than at formulating a radical critique of the capitalist organization of work, which depends upon and even exploits this reproductive labor. In conclusion, the article revisits theories of recognition and explores the notion of reproduction as a possible point of articulation between these theories and feminist approaches.
Keywords: Social reproduction; Domestic labor; Recognition; Wages; Marxism.