Reproduction serves an economic function at both societal and family scales

Evidence

The economic function of reproduction. This is not only a general fact which concerns the whole of society in its totality, because society demands a certain proportion between age-groups for purposes of production and of supporting the section of the population that for normal reasons (age, illness, etc.) is passive. It is also a “molecular” fact which operates within the smallest economic units, such as the family. The expression about the “staff of old age” demonstrates an instinctive consciousness of the economic need for there to be a certain ratio of young to old over the entire area of society. The sight of the maltreatment meted out in country villages to old people without a family encourages couples to want to have children. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1098

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines reproduction’s ‘molecular’ economic function: the family as the smallest economic unit, balancing young and old.
• XREF: Connects to the biopolitics genealogy in the reader’s toolkit — reproduction as an economic-demographic question that the state must manage. — connects to: Social reproduction theory enables analysis of family and unproductive labor beyond economic reduction; Social reproduction of labor-power requires family, education, and cultural institutions; Material and social reproduction occur simultaneously and inseparably (+7 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1098

Broader Connections

• Social reproduction theory enables analysis of family and unproductive labor beyond economic reduction #expands (0.85)
• Social reproduction of labor-power requires family, education, and cultural institutions #expands (0.82)
• Material and social reproduction occur simultaneously and inseparably #corroborates (0.80)
• Capitalism’s reproduction requires family, education, and media apparatuses #expands (0.80)
• Intergenerational closure among parents generates social capital and effective sanctions for raising children. #expands (0.75) — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 125
• Effective parenting norms depend on closure across generations between families #expands (0.72) — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 121