Symposium: Where Is Social Reproduction Theory Now?

There has been an explosion in recent years of scholarship on social reproduction theory (SRT), which builds on a long tradition of critique within Marxist feminist scholarship that has focused on the labor required to produce workers and society as a whole. While it arose out of the need to explain the continued oppression of women under capitalism, the SRT framework has been extended to understanding racism and other sources of division between workers. SRT offers a perspective on the link between the oppressive logics of “race,” sexuality, ability, gender, and more, with the development and actualization of labor powers. In short, a renewed SRT provides a historical materialist theory of multiple oppressions within capitalist society. This body of scholarship, varied in its political and theoretical orientations, takes as its subject precisely the continuous and daily reproduction of capitalism as a system. Our round table discussion consists of a conversation with Tithi Bhattacharya, one of the foremost proponents of social reproduction theory, on some of the recent developments in SRT and their relevance in our current conjuncture.

Registrants will receive a link to a pre-circulated paper by Professor Bhattacharya.

For a brief video explaining social reproduction theory, please visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uur-pMk7XjY

Panelists:
Tithi Bhattacharya, Associate Professor, History, Purdue University
Sueann Caulfield, Associate Professor, History, University of Michigan
Emily A. Peterson, Lecturer, Women's and Gender Studies, University of Michigan
Ruby Tapia, Associate Professor; English Language and Literature, Women's and Gender Studies; University of Michigan
Rosario Ceballo (moderator), Professor; Women's and Gender Studies, Psychology; University of Michigan

Free and open to the public.

This event is part of the Friday Series of the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. It is made possible by a generous contribution from Kenneth and Frances Aftel Eisenberg. Presented in partnership with the Department of Women's and Gender Studies.