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They Call It Love Wages for Housework and Emotional

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They Call It Love Wages for Housework and Emotional THEY CALL IT LOVE WAGES FOR HOUSEWORK AND EMOTIONAL REPRODUCTION ALVA GOTBY A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of West London for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2019 1 Abstract This thesis is a study of two sets of literature on capitalism, gender, and emotion. Firstly, it explores the writings of the Wages for Housework (WFH) movement – a network of Marxist feminist activist groups, founded in 1972, whose activity was centred on women’s reproductive labour. Secondly, this thesis draws on the body of writing on emotional labour. Coined by Arlie Hochschild in 1983, this term describes the work of producing emotional states in another person. While WFH were attentive to emotional aspects of reproductive labour, their writings mention emotional labour only in passing. Hochschild’s work concentrates on emotional labour in particular service occupations, but neglects broader issues of social reproduction. Synthesising these bodies of work, I introduce the concept of emotional reproduction, thus applying the WFH perspective to the theme introduced by Hochschild. Emotional reproduction denotes processes across waged and unwaged forms of labour, intended to enhance the relative emotional wellbeing of a recipient, to the extent that they are able to participate in waged labour. These processes often take place in the private sphere, and are constructed as a typically feminine activity. I argue for the importance of understanding these processes as a form of labour, which is integral to capitalist social reproduction. Through the notion of emotional reproduction, this thesis offers an account of gendered subjectivity. It highlights the construction of gendered and historically specific forms of skill, which are essential for emotional labour. I argue that the feminised skill for emotional labour tends to be exploited, in both waged labour and in many family arrangements. This labour, however, is simultaneously made invisible through the hegemonic understanding of subjectivity as personal autonomy, which obscures modes of emotional dependency. 2 The final two chapters of the thesis outline the political perspective of a Marxist feminism focused on the constitution of collective subjectivity through the refusal of emotional labour. Through the demand for the abolition of gender and the family, I offer an account of what resistance to current forms of emotional reproduction might look like. These involve contesting contemporary understandings of family, as well as building our collective capacity for other types of sociality. 3 Frequently cited works – AR The arcane of reproduction: Housework, prostitution, labor and capital (Leopoldina Fortunati, 1995 [1981]). – AWNP All work and no pay: Women, housework and the wages due (Wendy Edmond and Suzie Fleming [eds.], 1975). – MH The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling (Arlie Russell Hochschild, 2003a [1983]). – NYWFHC The New York Wages for Housework committee 1972-1977: History, theory and documents (Silvia Federici and Arlen Austin [eds.], 2017). – PWSC The power of women and the subversion of the community (Mariarosa Dalla Costa, 1972). – RPZ Reproduction at point zero: Housework, reproduction, and feminist struggle (Silvia Federici, 2012). – SRC Sex, race, and class: The perspective of winning (Selma James, 2012). – WL The work of love: The role of unpaid housework as a condition of poverty and violence at the dawn of the 21st century (Giovanna Franca Dalla Costa, 2008 [1978]). – WSC Women and the subversion of the community: A Mariarosa Dalla Costa reader (Mariarosa Dalla Costa, 2019). 4 Contents Acknowledgements................................................................................................................6 Introduction.............................................................................................................................8 Wages for Housework as method and perspective.........................................................12 Chapter outline............................................................................................................23 Chapter one: Wages for Housework and reproductive labour............................................27 Reproductive sites and the exploitation of work..............................................................28 Reproduction and value...............................................................................................35 Permanent reproduction crisis.........................................................................................43 Sex as work.................................................................................................................50 Reproductive antagonisms .............................................................................................54 Wage struggles............................................................................................................59 Chapter two: Love as labour................................................................................................70 Affective labour, post-workerism, and gender.................................................................71 Emotional labour in feminist theory.................................................................................82 Subject and status.......................................................................................................86 Definitions of emotional labour....................................................................................91 Love and care..............................................................................................................94 Parenting and emotional reproduction......................................................................102 Emotional class reproduction ...................................................................................105 Commercialising feeling ................................................................................................112 Private and public .....................................................................................................118 Chapter three: Gendering work..........................................................................................123 Femininity as work function...........................................................................................124 Love, violence, and reproduction..............................................................................130 Gendered feeling: Hochschild on femininity .................................................................138 Contradictory requirements: Contemporary labour and femininity................................150 Gender, flexibility, and emotional labour...................................................................157 Gendered skill............................................................................................................164 Chapter four: Wages for Housework and the strategy of refusal......................................169 Manifestos, form, subjectivity........................................................................................169 Emotional antagonisms.................................................................................................179 Sexual refusals..........................................................................................................186 Wages for refusal......................................................................................................192 Chapter five: Towards a different (re)production...............................................................195 Beyond equality.............................................................................................................195 Abolishing the family..................................................................................................203 Gender abolition........................................................................................................209 Queering emotional reproduction..................................................................................213 Moving beyond the family..........................................................................................219 New horizons of feeling.............................................................................................227 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................234 Bibliography.......................................................................................................................241 5 Acknowledgements Like all work, this thesis is the result of a collective process. It draws on decades of Marxist feminist writings and activism. Academic research, in its pursuit or originality, often fails to fully capture the many ways we are dependent on the labour of others. I am deeply grateful for the work of my supervisor Helen Hester, who contributed both intellectual and emotional labour to the process of researching and writing this thesis. This work would not be the same without Helen’s encouragement, curiosity, and dedication, as well as her intellectual and textual attention to detail. Working with Helen made the process of researching and writing feel simultaneously easier and more important. I thank my second supervisor, Jeremy Strong, and Michelle Henning, who both commented on the text at various stages. My fellow PhD students at the London School of
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