Capitalism, Gender and Toil

Abstract

The second part of this book consists of an extended application of the conceptual framework developed in Part One. Its underlying theme is the qualitative difference analysed in Chapter 6 between projects which are contained within the prevailing relations of social reproduction, and projects which set out to transform them. The focus is the activity of work — the overall amount of time which society devotes to various kinds of work, whether paid or unpaid; the distribution of this total between different sections of society, and especially between men and women; the alternative patterns of social life, along with the distribution of power and advantage associated with different social divisions of labour; and the subjective meaning and value attached to work by those who do it.