Untenable(Dichotomies:(!
De- gendering'Political'Eco nomy !
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Elisabeth*Prügl*
Graduate*Institute,*Geneva*
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Abstract:)
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Political!Economy!is!inundated!with!foundational!dichotomies,!which!constitute!
central!concepts!in!its!theorizing.!Feminist!scholarship!has!problematized!the!
gender!subtext!of!these!dichotomies!and!the!resulting!blind!spots,!including!the!
positioning!of!women’s!labour,!processes!of!reproduction,!and!private!
households!as!marginal!to!the!economy.!The!paper!offers!a!reading!of!
contemporary!writings!in!Feminist!Political!Economy!that!is!attuned!to!
disrupting!binaries.!It!interrogates!first,!how!the!opposition!between!production!
and!reproduction!is!today!put!into!question!through!the!development!of!a!care!
economy!and!through!new!theorizations!of!social!reproduction.!Second,!I!
question!the!spatial!opposition!between!the!public!and!the!private,!the!state!and!
the!household,!an!opposition!that!has!long!been!a!problem!for!those!earning!
income!in!private!spaces!and!that!is!increasingly!made!untenable!by!feminist!
literature!that!historicizes!household!governance.!By!destabilizing!the!gendered!
binaries!of!production/reproduction!and!public/private!Feminist!Political!
Economy!brings!into!view!blind!spots!in!existing!scholarship,!including!
imbrications!between!logics!of!accumulation!and!public!purpose,!self-interest!
and!care,!and!private!household!governance!and!the!state,!thereby!opening!up!
new!thinking!space!for!alternatives.!!
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This!is!an!Accepted!Manuscript!of!an!article!published!by!Taylor!&!Francis!in!
!"#$"%&'(&)*+",*-+$'*-.&/'.$+$0-.&10'*'23&on!October!20,!2020.!Available!online!
at!https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2020.1830834!
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Untenable(Dichotomies:(!
De- gendering'Political'Economy!
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Political!Economy!is!inundated!with!foundational!dichotomies,!which!constitute!
central!concepts!in!its!theorizing.!They!differentiate!processes!of!production!
from!reproduction,!and!of!production!from!consumption.!They!distinguish!
values!of!exchange!from!use,!and!profit!from!care.!They!structure!spaces,!
separating!markets!from!the!state,!the!economic!and!the!social,!factories!from!
homes,!and!the!public!from!the!private.!They!oppose!wage!labour!to!subsistence,!
competition!to!reciprocity,!and!self-interest!to!altruism.!Although!accepted!as!
common!sense!in!the!field,!these!dichotomies!are!thoroughly!gendered,!
colouring!the!first!part!of!the!binary!as!masculine!and!the!second!as!feminine,!
thereby!establishing!a!hierarchy!between!them.!Feminists!have!argued!that!such!
gendering!is!problematic!because!it!propels!gendered!realities!and!a!gendered!
organization!of!the!economy.!!
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Feminist!Political!Economy!has!long!sought!to!counteract!the!devaluing!of!the!
feminine!in!these!binaries.!Starting!from!labour,!feminist!critiques!of!Political!
Economy!have!sought!to!valorise!women’s!crucial!but!largely!hidden!and!often!
unpaid!work!in!homes,!farms,!and!small!businesses!together!with!feminised!and!
marginalised!economic!values!thus!produced.!They!also!have!analysed!the!
violent!appropriations!of!women’s!unpaid!labour!for!purposes!of!social!
reproduction.!In!doing!so,!they!have!refused!a!positioning!of!women’s!labour!and!
of!private!household!spaces!as!the!conceptual!Other!of!Political!Economy,!
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outside!privileged!realms!of!production!and!accumulation.!Feminist!Political!
Economy!has!worked!with!the!binaries!it!has!inherited!but!is!increasingly!
pushing!beyond!them.!!
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Disrupting!the!gendered!dichotomies!of!Political!Economy!is!important!for!
imagining!alternatives!that!overcome!inequalities!and!oppression!based!on!
gender!and!other!intersecting!status!positions.!As!the!editors!of!this!special!issue!
state!in!their!introduction,!scholarly!blind!spots!have!political!and!normative!
effects,!influencing!whose!experiences!are!validated!and!whose!agendas!thrive!
(LeBaron!et!al.,!this!issue).!If!scholarly!knowledge!thus!carries!performative!
force,!gendered!Political!Economy!participates!in!the!perpetuation!of!gendered!
realities.!Indeed,!gendered!dichotomies!hold!in!place!not!only!gender!inequality,!
but!prop!up!the!panoply!of!existing!hierarchies!and!hegemonies!they!encode.!
Gendered!dichotomies!also!blind!us!to!everyday!economic!practices!that!may!
exceed!and!contradict!binary!logics.!J.K.!Gibson-Graham!has!perhaps!most!
forcefully!sought!to!make!visible!diverse!economies!beyond!the!capitalist!
processes!privileged!in!contemporary!Political!Economy,!including!non-market!
practices!of!care,!cooperatives,!community-supported!agriculture,!local!and!
complementary!currencies,!and!the!social!economy!(Gibson-Graham,!Cameron,!
and!Healy!2013;!Gibson-Graham!2008;!see!also!Bedford!in!the!NPE!special!
issue).!I!align!myself!with!these!efforts,!seeking!to!highlight!in!addition!
phenomena!of!economic!governance!hidden!behind!dichotomies.!However,!
rather!than!attempting!to!change!the!story!through!bottom-up!theorizing!for!the!
purpose!of!imagining!alternative!economies,!I!offer!a!reading!of!contemporary!
writings!in!Feminist!Political!Economy!that!is!attuned!to!disrupting!binaries.!I!
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seek!to!show!how!feminist!theorizing!negotiates!inherited!binaries!and!illustrate!
how!seeming!opposites!inhabit!each!other,!ultimately!rendering!the!gendered!
dichotomies!of!Political!Economy!untenable.!!
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Specifically,!I!explore!two!themes!in!contemporary!Feminist!Political!Economy.!
The!first!focuses!on!the!opposition!between!production!and!reproduction.!
Processes!of!social!reproduction!have!received!little!attention!in!Political!
Economy!research!until!feminists!highlighted!their!centrality.!Today!the!
opposition!between!production!and!reproduction!is!put!into!question!through!
the!development!of!a!care!economy!and!through!new!feminist!theorizations!of!
social!reproduction.!Second,!I!focus!on!the!spatial! op position!between!the!public!
and!the!private,!the!state!and!the!household.!The!economic!and!political!roles!of!
“private”!households!again!have!received!little!attention!in!Political!Economy.!
However,!the!opposition!has!long!been!a!problem!for!those!earning!income!in!
private!spaces!and!is!increasingly!made!untenable!by!feminist!literature!that!
historicizes!household!governance.!!
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The!paper!proceeds!in!two!steps.!First,!I!provide!a!review!of!the!classical!
literature!in!Feminist!Political!Economy!that!introduced!a!focus!on!social!
reproduction!and!households!in!the!1970s!and!1980s,!highlighting!the!way!in!
which!this!literature!negotiates!gendered!binaries.!Second,!I!enter!the!topic!
through!the!care!economy!and!home-based!work!and!show!how!Feminist!
Political!Economy!literature!disrupts!the!gendered!binaries!of!
production/reproduction!and!public/private,!thereby!disturbing!hierarchical!
arrangements,!making!visible!hidden!phenomena,!and!opening!up!thinking!space!
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for!alternatives.!!I!conclude!by!highlighting!exemplary!lines!of!inquiry!into!blind!
spots!of!Political!Economy!that!are!opened!up!once!foundational!dichotomies!are!
problematized.!!
Gendered)Dichotomies)in)Political)Economy!
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Unlike!orthodox!economics,!Marxism!has!given!a!name!to!women’s!reproductive!
labour!and!thus!a!language!to!Feminist!Political!Economy!scholarship.!It!has!
shown!the!value!of!that!which!appears!as!Other!in!Marxism—women’s!unpaid!
work!in!households.!The!debates!around!“domestic!labour”!in!the!1970s!and!
1980s!were!firmly!anchored!in!the!dualism!of!production!and!reproduction,!and!
arguments!over!the!relationships!between!“unproductive”!domestic!labour!and!
“productive”!(that!is!surplus-generating)!labour!outside!the!home!were!fierce!
(Molyneux!1979;!Seccombe!1974).
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!The!debates!were!deeply!political,!informing!
movement!activism!in!the!Wages!for!Housework!campaign,!which!argued!that!
women’s!“reproductive”!labour!in!the!home!was!as!important!to!capitalism!as!
the!typically!male!“productive”!labour!outside!the!home;!the!goal!of!the!
campaign!was!to!valorise!this!labour.!In!the!1980s,!a!group!of!German!feminist!
political!economists!further!developed!these!ideas!to!encompass!all!unwaged!
labour—including!those!of!peasants!in!subsistence!agriculture,!“the!colonies,”!
and!“nature,”!introducing!the!notion!of!a!“subsistence!perspective”!as!an!
alternative!to!capitalist!reasoning!(Mies!2007;!Mies,!Bennholdt-Thomsen,!and!
Werlhof!1988).!Elaborations!of!the!relationship!between!capitalism!and!
subsistence!work!as!“primitive!accumulation”!made!visible!the!gendered!
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!This!is!not!the!place!to!revisit!these!arguments.!For!retrospective!appraisals!see!
Toupin!2018!and!Vogel!2000.!