What is it about?
This article examines seven journal articles by authors tasked with discussing what makes radical political economy "radical." Their answers hinge on two concepts: first, the dependency of production on unpaid reproductive labor (superexploitation) and, second, a holistic analysis of the economy that includes that reproductive labor, known as part of the work of social reproduction. Both concepts are informed by feminists and feminist economists, who have been discussing them for at least 100 years. Still, most of the men who wrote the articles exclude the work of social reproduction, households (where much of it takes place), and women (who typically do it) -- even though the conditions of social reproduction are precisely what they seek to improve. The article touches on three outcomes and possibilities for change such that feminism would become recognized for its critical role in radical political economy.
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Why is it important?
The Union for Radical Political Economy's 50th anniversary was in 2018, which has prompted reflection on its history and its future. Feminist Radical Political Economy (FRPE) is pushing URPE to recall the history and future of feminism in URPE. Acknowledging the shared normative aim of improving the conditions of social reproduction - rather than assuming social reproduction as some relatively unimportant background work - would constitute progress toward a more holistic model of the economy. Understanding social reproduction makes visible a space of radical politics and radical projects to pursue change in economics, radical and otherwise.
Perspectives
I started this article with the question "What's radical about *feminist* radical political economy?" I was surprised to learn that some authors seem to think that it is feminist insight - although unacknowledged to be feminist - at the core of what makes *radical political economy* radical. The fact that radical political economy takes in feminist insight but removes its feminist content contradicts radical economists' goal of a holistic analysis and neglects the work of generations of feminist scholars that produced the insight, and women's unpaid reproductive labor.
Jennifer Cohen
Miami University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: What’s “Radical” about [Feminist] Radical Political Economy?, Review of Radical Political Economics, September 2018, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0486613418789704.
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