Applying Marx’s Alienated Labor Theory to Women’s Domestic Labor
Applying Marx’s Alienated Labor Theory To Women’s Domestic Labor
In his work The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Marx states one of the most outstanding theories which is Alienated Labor. His theory mainly analyzes the labor in the public of society, in other words, the men in working class. Thus, Marx’s Alienated Labor Theory applies mainly to the alienation of workers in the public production field. Women at that time are considered as a second class, which have no status in society. They can be seen as the private property of men. “One of the problems with domestic labor from the Marxist perspective was seen to be the fact that it produced use values, as opposed to the exchange values produced by paid labor, it was only the form of work that was directly related to capital” (Andrew 1994:105). “Thus, the housewife has no direct relationship to capital, since she is unpaid and does not produce surplus value” (Andrew 1994:105). However, this statement is somehow doubtful. The fact is that a woman’s domestic labor not merely serves a single man, but serves the whole capitalist system; her unpaid domestic housework contributes to and is closely linked to the capitalist economy system. This paper will discuss about how Marx’s Alienated Labor theory can be applied to women domestic labor back in the ninetieth to mid-twentieth century.
Some analysis demonstrates that “housework was productive labor, as it reproduced labor power. Women’s domestic labor prepared the male worker for another day’s work as well as reproducing and rearing the next generation of workers” (Andrew 1994:105). Therefore, domestic labor can represent the “hidden source of surplus labor” (Andrew 1994:105), which creates surplus value for the capitalist economy system. Thus, women’s domestic labor and the men working labor are both alienated labor. As the housewife’s domestic labor can create surplus value, the capitalist indirectly possess this kind of surplus value by giving the
In his work The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Marx states one of the most outstanding theories which is Alienated Labor. His theory mainly analyzes the labor in the public of society, in other words, the men in working class. Thus, Marx’s Alienated Labor Theory applies mainly to the alienation of workers in the public production field. Women at that time are considered as a second class, which have no status in society. They can be seen as the private property of men. “One of the problems with domestic labor from the Marxist perspective was seen to be the fact that it produced use values, as opposed to the exchange values produced by paid labor, it was only the form of work that was directly related to capital” (Andrew 1994:105). “Thus, the housewife has no direct relationship to capital, since she is unpaid and does not produce surplus value” (Andrew 1994:105). However, this statement is somehow doubtful. The fact is that a woman’s domestic labor not merely serves a single man, but serves the whole capitalist system; her unpaid domestic housework contributes to and is closely linked to the capitalist economy system. This paper will discuss about how Marx’s Alienated Labor theory can be applied to women domestic labor back in the ninetieth to mid-twentieth century.
Some analysis demonstrates that “housework was productive labor, as it reproduced labor power. Women’s domestic labor prepared the male worker for another day’s work as well as reproducing and rearing the next generation of workers” (Andrew 1994:105). Therefore, domestic labor can represent the “hidden source of surplus labor” (Andrew 1994:105), which creates surplus value for the capitalist economy system. Thus, women’s domestic labor and the men working labor are both alienated labor. As the housewife’s domestic labor can create surplus value, the capitalist indirectly possess this kind of surplus value by giving the