Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Unproductive Workers and State Repression

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2021

Abstract

Social Reproduction Theory, as advanced by scholars such as Bhattacharya (2017) and Ferguson (2019), is at its core a theory of the revolutionary capacity of “unproductive” workers such as teachers, nurses, and social workers who are disproportionately women and disproportionately employed by the state. However, Social Reproduction Theory overlooks the contradictory and antagonistic role of the state in the lives of people, as the reproduction of labor power in capitalism proceeds via antagonism and state repression. The task of teachers, nurses, and social workers is the production of not just any life but that of a docile, exploitable worker.

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© 2021 Union for Radical Political Economics

https://journals.sagepub.com/share/GGMSXEAJVKZBJVPEKUGP?target=10.1177/04866134211043284

Publication Title

Review of Radical Political Economics

DOI

10.1177/04866134211043284

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