LABRST 3H03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: National Accounts, United Nations System, Social Reproduction

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Labour Studies
• Course: LABRST 3H03
• Professor: Katherine Natovski

Document Summary

Critically about economics how we understand value and productivity. In the economic system there is this tendency to separate procreation and the household from the workplace and labour force. The dominant theories of social reproduction argue that the spheres of public and private are not distinct. They argue that reproducing human life is actually critical to the economy. Employers depend on this work-- because women do this work, workers are able to eat live and reproduce in order to come to work again. Otherwise employers would have to cook, clean and provide free child-care. One of the consequences is that reproductive work is seen as not-work. That it does(cid:374)"t (cid:396)e(cid:395)ui(cid:396)e skill a(cid:374)d is so(cid:373)ethi(cid:374)g that is(cid:374)"t (cid:272)o(cid:373)pe(cid:374)sated a(cid:374)d is see(cid:374) as having no value in economic terms. This logic underlies the devaluation of women"s work both paid and unpaid. Unpaid work is complicated- it is not categorized as paid work.