| In this dissertation, I address the task of analyzing “gender” as a theoretical and practical issue in the field of political economy. I present a theoretical model, which conceptualizes “gender” as a configuration of historical social relations of reproduction. Such an analysis of gender presupposes a theory of social reproduction. The theory of social reproduction which informs this dissertation is the Marxian theory of “mode of production,” or “dialectical, historical-materialism.” Basic to the “mode of production” theory is the notion that the labor process, as a historical relation, is fundamental to human social reproduction.; I revisit the Marxian conceptual system of “mode of production” analysis—in light of feminist analytical insights and political concerns, to derive a history-sensitive model of gender relations. I argue that gender relations are formed as historical relations of biological reproduction in the process of reproduction of the capacity to labor, i.e., of laborers. In the process of human social reproduction, female biological-reproductive relation. In this “appropriation” by society of female reproductive capacity, female and male is constructed as a gendered identity, as “woman” and “man.”; Marx and Engels, in their study of social reproduction, identified the dynamics of the reproduction of laborers, and by extension of population growth, to be of a historical nature. Their analysis of relations of reproduction, however, is focused on class. In the history of population growth discourse, furthermore, any consideration of relations of biological reproduction and their implications on women's lives is virtually absent.; This revised “mode of production” analysis of “gender” reveals the instrumental, historically specific role that women, as biological reproducers of the population, play in social reproduction, and the implications of that role on how they live their lives. Contemporary issues of great social concern, such as reproductive rights and family relations, become clearer in the context of this theoretical framework. |
