Work

Social Reproduction of Waste: Processes of Discard, Labor, and Inequalities

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Feminist social reproduction theories and approaches capture multiple scales of analysis, from everyday care work within households to the reproductive aspects of welfare systems such as health and education. Feminist thinkers draw our attention to the gendered, racialized, and classed intersections embedded within production processes, by analyzing the ecological, biological, and social dimensions of reproduction. Recent critical interventions into “pluralizing” social reproduction approaches indicate that significant domains of our socioeconomic and cultural lives remain undertheorized within feminist discussions. This article explores waste as a key site of social reproductive labor, which remains marginal within feminist scholarship. Waste as an analytical point of departure showcases the tension between capitalism and the environment, and harbors toxic and stigmatized workspaces. This paper combines Marxist feminist perspectives with discard studies to theorize how waste work is fundamental to the biological and the socioeconomic reproduction of the society.

Source: Social Politics International Studies in Gender State & Society

DOI: 10.1093/sp/jxaf068

Authors: Riya Raphael, Julián Porras Bulla

Institutions: Lund University, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia

Language: English

Topic: Feminism, Gender, and Intersectionality

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Responsible consumption and production, Reduced inequalities, Gender equality

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,631