Arcane of Reproduction: Housework, Prostitution, Labor and Capital

Cultural Writing. Essays. Women's Studies. This book examines women as a labor force in today's economy, including in its comprehensive examination women who work in corporate, industrial, and private sectors, as well as the "housewife" and women involved in the sex trade/industry. The book scrutinizes the lack of value in human reproduction in a modern capitalist society in comparison to the production and selling of goods, and the resulting lack of value for/toward women as the faces of human reproduction. The book is heavily influenced by Marx's theory that "It is the posting of reproduction as non-value that enables both production and reproduction to function as the production of value." The book does a good job "simultaneously employing and critiquing received Marxist categories" and "reveals the hidden economy - and the radicalizing potential - of traditional woman's labor."