Critical topographies of social reproduction: Proposals for a spatially sensitive perspective on the crisis of social reproduction

Abstract

Theories of social reproduction claim to provide a critical analysis of the social conditions of the (re)production of human labor power. Nevertheless, they often show an unspoken fixation on productive employment and a tendency towards economic functionalism. Also, the spatial dimension of social reproduction has hardly been considered so far as theories of social reproduction often take little notice of geographic approaches. The fact that the much-discussed crisis of social reproduction also varies greatly spatially has thus been little studied. Theories of social reproduction can learn a lot from feminist geography that sometimes tends to be even more critical of productivity functionalisms.

Currently, theories of social reproduction are challenged not only in view of changing gender relations, changing care regimes and the commodification of care but also by the loss of importance of regular employment for social reproduction in global peripheries (not least reinforced by the pandemic). To strengthen its theoretical potentials considering changing conditions of reproduction, theories of social reproduction should integrate approaches from the international feminist geography and feminist sociology of work in such a way that mutual gaps can be closed.

Based on empirical findings from an ongoing research project on rural poverty and with reference to feminist theories of social reproduction, my contribution focuses on the spatially constituted conditions of social reproduction in rural poverty areas in West and East Germany. The focus is on the crisis-ridden social reproduction of the rural working class in rural-peripheralized areas, in which poverty spreads due to a lack of proper jobs, the dismantling of infrastructure, and deficient public services. Against this background, I argue that the crisis of social reproduction is spatially constituted and has specific features in rural poverty areas. I also argue that the social reproduction of the impoverished rural working class in Germany’s rural inner periphery tends to be endangered in different areas of social reproduction. Finally, rural-peripheral spaces, I want to make clear, are by no means merely extreme deviations or peculiarities for the spectrum of crisis symptoms of social reproduction. Rather, they are cautionary examples of a spatially aggravated crisis of social reproduction with disastrous consequences for social cohesion ̶ and they hold fruitful challenges for the theoretical development of theories of social reproduction.