Capitalism, Gender, Disability

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Disability can sometimes resist and refuse capitalism and its definitions of work, independence, productivity, and progress. The principles of Disability Justice remind us that "our worth is not dependent on what and how much we can produce" and many people have struggled against capitalism to instead invest in mutualist and community-oriented economies where disabled people support and learn from one another. But capitalism also produces disability: the jobs people do are often disabling, and our feminist and anti-racist analysis confirms that people are not equally likely to be working in dangerous jobs. At the same time, disabled people are often locked out of the workforce and when hired, must fight for fair pay and good conditions. During our seminar, we will study texts by Marta Russell, who argues that disability--what it is and who constitutes the category--is defined by capitalism. Likewise, we will study scholarship, art, and activism emerging from feminist movements that remind us that care work is often feminized and privatized in the form of the family, which benefits capital. We will study racial capitalism, the Wages for Housework Campaign, movements for Universal Basic Income, the concept of "essential work," the proliferation of unpaid internships, and the directive to "do what you love." Following Kathi Weeks and other feminist theorists, we will interrogate the position of work as it sits at both the center of our lives and the top of our hierarchy of values. Restrictions: N/A