The original sin was not woman’s deed: from marxism to feminist political economy
Keywords:
Marxist theory, feminist economy, feminist politics, primary accumulation, economic crisisAbstract
In this text, I review Marxist conceptualization of primary accumulation. I then highlight a series of authors who are either explicitly feminists or have been influenced by feminism, and their emphasis on the “extra-capitalist” conditions that allow the creation of capitalist social relations. Among these conditions, the forced separation of the processes of reproduction and production and the subordination of the former to the latter are central to primary accumulation. In an effort to land this discussion on the sphere of public policy, I then analyze the gender premises behind the provision of social rights in Spain and, more specifically, behind the retirement pensions system. In this analysis, I show that the logic behind the provision of rights stems from a continuation and intensification nowadays of the separation between reproduction and production. Lastly, I reflect on possible routes to enunciate social protection public policy from a feminist perspective
Downloads
References
Arruzza, Cinzia (2016): "Reflexiones degeneradas: patriarcado y capitalismo", disponible en marxismocritico.com [consulta realizada en 29/08/2016]
Barrère Unzueta, Mª Ángeles (2009): "Derecho fundamental a la igualdad de trato, discriminación estructural y empoderamiento de las mujeres", Encuentro Internacional sobre "Crisis económica, género y redistribución", XXVIII Cursos de verano de la UPV/EHU, San Sebastián, 2, 3 y 4 de septiembre
Burawoy, Michael (1976): "The function and reproduction of migrant labor: Comparative material from southern Africa and the United States", American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 77, Nº 4, pp. 1050-1087
https://doi.org/10.1086/226185
Carrasco, Cristina (2011): "La economía del cuidado: planteamiento actual y desafíos pendientes", Economía Crítica, Nº 11, pp. 205-225
Carrasco, Cristina y Almeda, Elisabet (2006): Estadístiques sota sospita: proposta de nous indicadors des de l'experiència femenina, Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya
Cebrián, Inmaculada y Moreno, Gloria (2015): Tiempo cotizado, ingresos salariales y sus consecuencias para las pensiones: diferencias por género al final de la vida laboral, Cuadernos de Relaciones Laborales, Vol. 33, Nº 2, pp. 311-328.
https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_CRLA.2015.v33.n2.50318
Custers, Peter (2012) [1997]: Capital Accumulation and Women's Labour in Asian Economies, New York: Monthly Review Press
Dalla Costa, Mariarosa (1975): "Women and the Subversion of the Community", en Mariarosa Dalla Costa & Selma James, The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community, Bristol: Falling Wall Press
Dalla Costa, Mariarosa (2004): "Capitalism and reproduction", The Commoner, Nº 8, pp. 1-12
De Beauvoir, Simone (2011 [1949]): El segundo sexo, Madrid: Cátedra
de Angelis, Massimo (2001): Marx and primitive accumulation: The continuous character of capital's "enclosures", The Commoner, Nº 1, pp. 1-22
de Angelis, Massimo (2004): "Separating the doings and the deed: Capital and the continuous character of enclosures", Historical Materialism, Vol. 12, Nº 2, pp. 57-87
https://doi.org/10.1163/1569206041551609
de Angelis, Massimo (2007): The Beginning of History: Value Struggles and Global Capital, London: Pluto Press
de Angelis, Massimo (2014): "Social Revolution and the Commons", The South Atlantic Quarterly, Vol. 113, Nº 2, pp. 299- 311
https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-2643630
de Janvry, Alain (1981): The agrarian question and reformism in Latin America, Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press
https://doi.org/10.56021/9780801825316
Ezquerra, Sandra (2012): "Acumulación por desposesión, género y crisis en el Estado español", Revista de Economía Crítica, Nº 14, pp. 124-147
Ezquerra, Sandra (2014): "Spain, Economic Crisis, and the New Enclosure of the Reproductive Commons", Monthly Review, Vol. 65, Nº 11, pp. 22-35
https://doi.org/10.14452/MR-065-11-2014-04_2
Ezquerra, Sandra; Alfama, Eva; Cruells, Marta (2016): "Miradas de género al envejecimiento y a la vejez", en Sandra Ezquerra et al. (eds.) Edades en transición. Envejecer en el siglo XXI, Barcelona: Ariel
Federici, Silvia (2010) [2004]: Calibán y la bruja. Mujeres, cuerpo y acumulación originaria, Madrid: Traficantes de Sueños.
Federici, Silvia (2014): "The reproduction of labour power in the global economy and the unfinished feminist revolution", en Maurizio Atzeni (ed.) Workers and labour in a globalised capitalism. Contemporary themes and theoretical issues, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 85-107
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-36134-9_5
Fraser, Nancy (2015): Fortunas del feminismo, Madrid: Traficantes de Sueños
Gala, Carolina (2012): "La reforma de la pensión de jubilación en las leyes 27/2011 y 3/2012: avances hacia un nuevo modelo", Revista Internacional de Organizaciones, Nº 8, pp. 87-120
https://doi.org/10.17345/rio8.87-120
Glassman, Jim (2006): "Primitive accumulation, accumulation by dispossession, accumulation by 'extraeconomic' means", Progress in Human Geography, Vol. 30, Nº 5, pp. 608-625
https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132506070172
Glucksmann, Miriam (1990): Women Assemble: Women Workers and the New Industries in the Inter-War Britain, Londres: Routledge
Hall, Derek (2012): "Rethinking Primitive Accumulation: Theoretical Tensions and Rural Southeast Asian Complexities", Antipode, Vol. 44, Nº 4, pp. 1188-1208
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2011.00978.x
Hartmann, Heidi (1981): "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive Union", en Lydia Sargent (ed.) Women and Revolution. A Discussion on the Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism, Boston: South End Press, pp. 1-41
https://doi.org/10.1177/030981687900800102
Harvey, David (2003): The New Imperialism, Oxford: Oxford University Press
https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199264315.001.0001
Luxemburgo, Rosa (2003 [1913]): The accumulation of capital, Nueva York: Routledge
Marx, Karl (2006) [1935]: Value, Price and Profit, Nueva York: International Publishers
Marx, Karl (2007a) [1867]: El capital. Libro I. Tomo I, Madrid: Akal
Marx, Karl (2007b) [1867]: El capital. Libro I. Tomo III, Madrid: Akal
Meillassoux, Claude (1981 [1975]): Maidens, meal, and money: Capitalism and the domestic economy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Mies, Maria (1986): Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale. Women in the International Division of Labor, Londres: Zed Books
Pérez Orozco, Amaia (2014): Subversión feminista de la economía. Aportes para un debate sobre el conflicto capital-vida, Madrid: Traficantes de sueños
Pérez Orozco, Amaia (2016): "Políticas al servicio de la vida: ¿políticas de transición?", en Fundación de los Comunes (ed.) Hacia nuevas instituciones democráticas. Diferencia, sostenimiento de la vida y políticas públicas, Madrid: Traficantes de sueños
Roberts, Adrienne (2008): "Privatizing social reproduction: The primitive accumulation of water in an era of neoliberalism", Antipode, Vol. 40, Nº 4, pp. 535-560
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2008.00623.x
Sneddon, Chris (2007): "Nature's materiality and the circuitous paths of accumulation: Dispossession of freshwater fisheries in Cambodia", Antipode, Vol. 39, Nº 1, pp. 167-193
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2007.00511.x
Wilson, Tamar Diana (2006): "Strapping the Mexican Woman Immigrant: The Convergence of Reproduction and Production", Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 79, Nº 2, pp. 295-302
https://doi.org/10.1353/anq.2006.0029
Wilson, Tamar Diana (2008): "Research Note: Issues of Production vs. Reproduction/Maintenance Revisited: Toward an Understanding of Arizona's Immigration Policies", Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 81, Nº 3, pp. 713-718
https://doi.org/10.1353/anq.0.0026
Wilson, Tamar Diana (2012): "Primitive Accumulation and the Labor Subsidies to Capitalism", Review of Radical Political Economics, Vol. 44, Nº 2, pp. 201-212
https://doi.org/10.1177/0486613411423896
Wood, Ellen Meiksins (2002a): The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View, New York: Verso
Wood, Ellen Meiksins (2002b): "The question of market dependence", Journal of Agrarian Change, Vol. 2, Nº 1, pp. 50-87
https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0366.00024
Wood, Ellen Meiksins (2006): "Logics of power: A conversation with David Harvey", Historical Materialism, Vol. 14, Nº 4, pp. 9-34