Labour in Marx's Writings: A Feminist Reconsideration through Space, Time and Body


Talita Yaltırık, York University

In this presentation, Marx’s understanding of labour is re-examined in light of feminist critiques of it through feminist interpretations of Marx’s critique of political economy and his view of social reality. This examination is based on a feminist reconsideration of Marx through space, time and body. In the first part of the presentation, Marx’s understanding of labour as human activity and his interrelational view of natural and historical are examined. His distinction between objectification and alienation is presented in light of his critical relation with Hegel. The transformation of his understanding of “alienation of labour” is traced from his “early” to “mature” writings by going beyond the dichotomous interpretations of Marx’s writings in the twentieth century. In this way, his critique of political economy through his understanding of value, his relational view of social reality that is inseparable from his critique and his relational view of production and reproduction are examined. The possibilities of an interpretation of Marx through space, time and body are traced. In the second part, feminist critiques and reconsiderations of Marx’s interrelational view of natural and historical through his understanding of human activity and of “alienation of labour” are presented. Feminist critiques and reconsiderations of Marx’s critique of political economy and his understanding of social reality, besides his understanding of reproduction with his relational view of production and reproduction, are demonstrated. The possibilities of an interpretation of Marx through space, time and body are critically reconsidered from a feminist perspective. In this way, this presentation firstly aims to show the importance of the particular interpretation of Marx’s understanding of labour, which is presented in the first section, by going beyond the dichotomous interpretations of his writings in the 20th century. It is argued that this interpretation is crucial to explore the possibilities of Marx’s understanding of labour from the feminist perspective which is proposed in this presentation. Secondly, based on this interpretation of Marx, the presentation aims to examine the possibilities and limitations of Marx’s understanding of labour from a feminist perspective in light of feminist critiques and reconsiderations. The feminist critiques and reconsiderations which are included in the presentation are mainly based on the contributions of Social Reproduction Theory without neglecting the singularity of the approaches of the scholars whose works are categorized under the title of Social Reproduction Theory. However, feminist critiques and reconsiderations which are included in the presentation are not limited to Social Reproduction Theory. While the contributions of Social Reproduction Theory are recognized in this examination, the feminist approach to Marx, which is presented in this presentation, is also based on a critical reconsideration of Social Reproduction Theory. The aim of this presentation is not to focus on all feminist critiques and interpretations of Marx in the literature which would go beyond the boundaries of the presentation. The analysis in this presentation is limited to several feminist theoreticians’ critiques and reconsiderations of Marx’s understanding of labour in line with the aspects which are examined in the first section. Overall, this paper aims to contribute to both feminist reconsiderations of Marx in contemporary social and political theory and to the analysis of the contemporary appearances of labour, spatial-temporal experience and the body in patriarchal capitalism.

This paper will be presented at the following session: