32611

SoSe 15: What's love got to do with it? Theorizing Capitalist Crisis as Crises of Social Reproduction: Transnational and Comparative Perspectives

Jana Gerlach

Additional information / Pre-requisites

Erasmus: 7 ECTS-credits

Comments

In this seminar, we will try to go beyond the familiar economic analyses of capitalist crisis and look at its consequences in the social realms of the family, the community and civil society - labeled as "sphere of social reproduction". In the first part of the seminar, we will deal with classic (u.a. Marx, Polanyi) as well as recent texts (u. a. Nancy Fraser, David Harvey, Bob Jessop, Luc Boltanski & Eve Chiapello) on the systemic nature and multi-dimensionality of capitalisms crises tendencies. In the second part, we will then use these theoretical perspectives to get a deeper understanding of current symptoms in various empirical fields, including rising insecurities in the labor market, changing family structures and rising child poverty, the privatization of the education system, global care migration, reproductive medicine (e.g. surrogacy) or religious fundamentalism. In order to explore the role of the national (welfare) state, we will also take on a comparative perspective (US - Europe). ----- Suggested introductory reading: Nancy Fraser (2014). "Behind Marx's Hidden Abode: For an Expanded Conception of Capitalism". In: New Left Review 86, 55-72.------ Nancy Fraser (2014). "Can Society Be Commodities All the Way Down? Post-Polanyian Reflections on Capitalist Crisis". In: Economy and Society 43.4, 541-58.------- David Harvey (2014). Seventeen Conatradictions and the End of Capitalism (Chapter on "Social Reproduction"). Oxford & New York: Oxford UP. ----- Cindi Katz (2001). "Vagabond Capitalism and the Necessity of Social Reproduction". In: Antipode 33.4., 709-28. ----- Requirements: See Syllabus and Course Description (on Blackboard ). close

13 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Wed, 08:00 - 10:00 13 Class schedule

Wed, 2015-04-22 08:00 - 10:00

Lecturers:
Jana Gerlach