The Value of Social Reproduction

Abstract

Gendered global migrations have increasingly come to be seen through the lens of care and its associated theorisations of the care diamond and care chains. While this work has served to expand our understanding of the relationships between different parts of the world and how they are mediated by the embodied and affective work of care, particularly within the household, we have argued that theories of social reproduction offer a richer analysis of these movements. We suggest that using social reproduction includes a wider repertoire of activities, sites and sectors and leads to a recognition of spatial differentiation and dynamic variability that is often missed in the literature on care. We explored some of the ways in which social reproduction had been theorised but also outlined how the resurgence of interest in social reproduction offers new veins of analysis.