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Critical Perspectives on Care Work

Paper Session

Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM (PST)

The Marker Union Square San Francisco, Bogart
Hosted By: Union for Radical Political Economics
  • Chair: Anastasia Wilson, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Decomposing Care Work

Anastasia Wilson
,
Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Abstract

Is care work always caring?In this project, I first examine care work through a class composition
approach and then argue that a care workers’ inquiry is necessary for understanding the
contradictory labor process of care work occupations, focusing on the roles of social workers,
teachers, and unwaged household care work. I share first theory and background on circuits of
capitalist care, and then discuss questions and plans for conducting a care workers’ inquiry.
Mainstream social science and popular understandings of the notion of “care” assume a form of
direct face-to-face service work with direct benefits to the care recipients. However, many social
services, schools, and other sites of care are enmeshed with the punitive carceral apparatus.
Through an examination of legal statutes, employee handbooks, and existing theory and
research, I show the enmeshment of care work with carceral work. These contradictions of care
then raise crucial questions about the labor processes, technical, political, and social
composition of care work, in both its waged and unwaged forms in relation to social
reproduction, which necessitates the method of a care workers’ inquiry.

Caring Prisons in the United States

Hannah Archambault
,
California State University-Fresno

Abstract

“Care,” as a concept and as a practice, is often presented as a panacea to the ills of neoliberalism and
austerity and is also frequently deployed by private for-profit entities and the state. This is not a new
phenomenon, but the utilization of care in the interests of capital has intensified as the rhetorical and
practical application of care for the purposes of social change in progressive-to-radical activism,
academic and popular literatures, and policy making, has grown in recent years. The language that
prisons use to describe themselves reflect this. This paper analyzes the mission statements and other
self-defining language that state prisons in the United States utilize as a particularly telling—if
extreme—example of carceral care. Crucially, this is not just a cynical usage of the term in an inapplicable
circumstance—it is an example of the actually existing state of care in contemporary capitalism in the
United States. The prison does in fact provide care of various types and this is one of the only accessible
sources of care (including private households, which may or may not supply care provision) for many
people in the United States. The arbiters of the carceral systems self-acknowledge this reality and this is
used as a justification for the reproduction of the carceral system.

Championing Unfreedoms for Development: Caste and the Politics of Vegetarianism in India

Abhilasha Srivastavaa
,
California State University-Fresno

Abstract

Scholarship on sustainable development and food is increasingly focused on plant-based diets,
which are seen as conscientious choices for mitigating climate change. India is seen as an
exemplary society where plant-based diets, vegetarianism in particular, are assumed to be a
choice of the majority, and other nations are encouraged to learn from the Indian case. Such
assumptions, however, are dangerously misplaced as neither are a majority of Indians vegetarian,
nor is Indian vegetarianism capable of supporting sustainable development. Vegetarianism is to
be conceptualized as an ideology of social reproduction that helps the caste system persist and
will undermine developmental outcomes for a majority of the Indian population. Data from
multiple sources shows that less than a fifth of Indians are vegetarian. Additionally, the
inextricable connections between dietary preferences and the highly discriminatory caste system
make Indian vegetarianism deeply problematic. We use survey data from IHDS to show that
vegetarianism goes hand in hand with caste-based prejudices, discrimination against omnivorous
and marginalized communities, and misogyny rooted in the caste system. While sustainable
development is contingent on equality, justice, and dignity, Indian vegetarianism is undergirded
by inequality, discrimination, and humiliation. Indian vegetarianism, thus, is fundamentally
incompatible with sustainable development. An uncritical applause for Indian vegetarianism
whitewashes its discriminatory and violent nature and risks the creation of policies and programs
that can seriously undermine sustainable development in the world's most populous nation.

U.S. Childcare in an SSA Perspective

Samantha Sterba
,
University of Redlands

Abstract

The lack of investment in public childcare in the United States is distinctive. Many other rich
countries provide paid family leave, as well as publicly provided daycare and afterschool care for
children. Although the country publicly funds aspects of care for many populations, notably
workers over 65 years, the share of public spending that funds childcare is minimal. Researchers
have pointed to many benefits of high-quality consistent childcare for the future citizenry and
there are obvious benefits to capitalists in terms of the stability and turnover of the current
workforce and the future generation of workers. Despite the significant benefits, however,
neither capital nor labor organizations have made funding public childcare a consistent priority.
Indeed, the possible expansions of public pre-kindergarten programs proposed in Build Back
Better legislation was hailed as a radical departure in the understanding of public infrastructure.
In this paper, I analyze the changing development of the patchwork private/public childcare
system that has emerged. Through the application of Social Structure of Accumulation (SSA)
theory, I explore why and how, across changing structures of capitalist accumulation, this
suboptimal arrangement persists. I believe an SSA analysis of this aspect of care provision differs
from the existing literature, which largely focus on the roles of culture and class conflict.
I focus the investigation on two specific historical periods marked by significant changes in
childcare provisioning: the transition from competitive to monopoly capitalism and the ongoing
crisis of neoliberal capitalism. I connect the distinct and coherent aspects of an SSA to the
concurrent characteristics of childcare arrangements and the uneven distribution of public
support for care. I conclude with a discussion of the potential arrangements that could emerge
in a future SSA.

Militarization, Gendered Labor Market, and the Care Economy

Saniya Jilani
,
Colorado State University

Abstract

As militarization intensifies, the gender roles within the labor market continue to transform in a manner that further worsens gender inequalities. To understand this phenomenon, this paper draws on Feminist political economy perspective, analyzing the data from ILO over time and across countries highlighting the role of the military as a patriarchal institution that perpetuates traditional gender norms and deepens gender inequality within the labor market. Building upon existing literature, we develop a conceptual framework that proposes two hypotheses: (i) worsening employment gaps for women, and (ii) gendered restructuring of the care economy. Our results present a complex scenario: while women are indeed crowded out of formal feminized work as militarization increases, the formal care occupation is becoming masculinized i.e. male dominated. Our results present a contradiction to the norm for feminized work and indicate the intricacies at play between militarization, care work, and gendered composition of the labor market. Thus, the paper underscores the importance of sectoral analysis to gain a comprehensive understanding of the complexities related to gender, militarization, and care work.
JEL Classifications
  • B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches
  • B1 - History of Economic Thought through 1925