Capitalist Development and Subsistence Reproduction; Rural Women in India
Journal article by Maria Mies; Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 12, 1980
All economic systems, modes of production, and all hu
man history presuppose two types of basic human activities:
production of the means of subsistence and production of new
life or procreation. The first is necessary to satisfy basic human
needs and to sustain life, the second to ensure the continuation
of society from generation to generation. Engels correctly called
both types of human activity production and stated that the
institutions of a particular society or of a particular epoch are
determined by the organization and the development of these
two types of production. 1 as production of the means of subsis
tence is dependent on human cooperation in labor, so too pro
duction of new life or procreation is dependent on the coopera
tion of women and men in the sexual act. Both processes are
closely interlinked, and as Marx noted, in both processes people
enter into a double relationship.
The production of life, both of one's own in labour and of
fresh life in procreation, now appears as a double relation
ship: on the one hand as a natural, on the other as a social
relationship. By social, we understand the cooperation of
several individuals no matter under what conditions, in what
manner and to what end. It follows that a certain mode of
production, or industrial stage, is always combined with a
certain mode of cooperation, or social stage, and this mode
of cooperation is itself a productive force.2
Insofar as the production of human life and of living
working capacity is the necessary precondition of all modes and
forms of production, we shall call this the subsistence produc
tion and reproduction....
For me you need to look it up in the library! I can't find a copy online.
1 comment:
As this article alludes into the cooperation of labor and production for advancement in society, I think it is beneficial to look into the form of cooperation in Rural Java. Education is a key factor in advancement in society, and yet, education is in a sense held back here. Yes, low wages is attractive for investment, but an even greater factor attracting foreign investors is the lack of education. Education in Java is meant not to produce intelligence, but to further teach of discipline. In a way, cooperation is not through healthy work relationships, but through the lack of power and knowledge. Companies look to invest because their is a low level of social unrest and no worries of protest; in that rural java are less knowledgeable of their rights then urban Java. I just wanted to tie in education with young females to this article because I think it is important, and we did not get to talk about it yesterday. In summary, cooperation in production is important, but we must look at the context to judge its importance for advancement in society.
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