Abstract

NORANDO, Verónica. Theoretical explorations on the specificity of working class women’s exploitation. La ventana [online]. 2019, vol.6, n.49, pp.317-349. ISSN 1405-9436.

As social scientists we face the difficulty of unraveling the chaos of social relations as perceived by the naked eye. On the one hand, there seem to be relations of production; on the other, antagonistic gender relations coexist together, while we also see ethnic inequalities. While intersectionality studies have advanced all these topics, in this article I propose a more sophisticated analysis of Marxism, by compounding relations of production (class) and gender relations, as they are embedded in real life. Studies on these matters still appear to be separate, resisting a combined analysis, so I believe that as social scientists we need to overcome this inertia from an interdisciplinary perspective. In order to do so I have considered feminist approaches on the subject, a gender studies perspective, and the social history of work, looking at it through a constructive critique of Marxism. By analyzing such theories I propose categories that may unify this array of social relations; I also advance on the key notion of gendered class; and finally I highlight the need of a multi-layered analysis. Social studies of the working class in particular, need to include women worker’s specific exploitation. My method of analysis is dialectical materialism.

Keywords : social History of work; Marxism; gender studies; feminism; gendered class relations.

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