Domestic labor sustains capitalism by reproducing labor power for free

Evidence

In an attempt to render visible the “women’s work” that sustains modern capitalism, members of the International Feminist Collective orchestrated the International Wages for Housework Campaign in 1972. Assembling behind the rallying cry, “If women were paid for all they do, there’d be a lot of wages due,” activists demanded material compensation for women’s domestic labor—the very same activities that are often concealed behind heteronormative ideals of femininity. — Brooke Erin Duffy, (Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love, 68

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Marxian critique of reproduction of labor power; payoff for the class-stratification and invisible-labor themes running across the Frankfurt School reading. — connects to: Ghostly women’s domestic labor frames analysis of digital economy work — Brooke Erin Duffy, (Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love:…, 69; Domestic labor is unwaged exploitation essential to reproducing capital — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory: A Marxist…, 123; Capitalist profit also depends on unpaid domestic labor — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 106 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Domestic labor is unwaged exploitation essential to reproducing capital #corroborates (0.95) — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 123
• Capitalists profit from unpaid reproductive and domestic labor without bearing its costs. #corroborates (0.95) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 106
• Capitalist profit also depends on unpaid domestic labor #corroborates (0.90) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 106
• Capitalism functions by redirecting social reproduction toward its own ends #expands (0.80) — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 347
• Social reproduction of labor-power requires family, education, and cultural institutions #expands (0.75)