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Quote by Emily St. John Mandel

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The Glass Hotel

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Author

Emily St. John Mandel
Emily St. John Mandel

Emily St. John Mandel is a Canadian-American writer born in Ontario, Canada, in 1979. Her works span various literary genres, including novels, short stories, and poetry. Mandel's writing is celebrated for its profound themes, rich imagination, and unique narrative techniques. more

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“When reframed in this way, critics often accuse couples intent on pursuing ART of being selfish for expending so much time, energy, and resources to have a biological connection to their child when they could pursue adoption in-stead. But beyond the practical barrier of adoption not being accessible to all prospective parents in all contexts given variables of age, sexual orientation, marital status, and the pool of available children, what is missing in this anti-ART/pro-adoption position is an explanation for why the criticism of narcissism or selfishness is directed primarily at couples who use ART, not also at those intent on bearing children the old-fashioned way through intercourse. Why must those who cannot reproduce "naturally" be put in the position of having to justify their desire to have "their own" child — why isn't every prospective parent pressed to give an account?”

JusticeMotherhoodWomen S RightsChristian EthicsSurrogacyProgressive ChristianityReproductive Justice
Book:My Body, Their Baby: A Progressive Christian Vision for Surrogacy
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“Unfortunately, when it comes to dominant narratives of capitalism, the discoveries of social reproduction theory have only added more epicycles to the received model, not fundamentally transformed it. The story is still essentially one about the eventual decline of the peasantry, the rise of factories, struggles of brawny wageworkers, and deindustrialization—even if one now adds a few more sections here and there about women. What’s so tragic about this is not only that the story is exclusionary and in many respects wrong, but that feminist scholars have already created the necessary elements for a completely revised, more inclusive, and nuanced history of capitalism.”

Social ReproductionMarxist Feminism
Author:Salar Mohandesi, Emma Teitelman
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“... by saying that the work we perform in the home is capitalist production, we are not expressing a wish to be legitimated as part of the 'productive forces,' in other words, it is not a resort to moralism. Only from a capitalist viewpoint being productive is a moral virtue, if not a moral imperative. From the viewpoint of the working class, being productive simply means being exploited. As Marx recognized, 'to be a productive laborer is therefore not a piece of luck, but a misfortune.' Thus we derive little 'self-esteem' from it. But when we say that housework is a moment of capitalist production we clarify our specific function in the capitalist division of labor and the specific forms that our revolt against it must take. Ultimately, when we say that we produce capital, we say that we can and want to destroy it, rather than engage in a losing battle to move from one form and degree of exploitation to another.”

Social Reproduction
Book:Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle
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“Intricately connected to the restructuring of relations of production, neoliberalism has also entailed the restructuring of social reproduction in ways that have rendered it increasingly insecure for particular sectors of the population. In the US, Canada and the UK, the move from welfare to ‘workfare’ states is particularly relevant, though other cutbacks to government services, the hollowing out of public housing, the restructuring of pension plans in ways that render them increasingly dependent on global financial markets and the imposition of austerity measures (especially in Europe) post-2008 are all key moves that have contributed to the ‘reprivatization of social reproduction’. The latter refers to the ways in which the decline in social forms of provisioning in most OECD countries over the past several decades has resulted in an increase in the amount of work done by families, particularly by women, and/or the private sector.”

NeoliberalismSocial Reproduction
Book:Gendered States of Punishment and Welfare
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“But just as the material necessity to produce the means of production and subsistence does not determine the historically specific social relations in which they are produced, the biology of procreation does not determine the mode of reproduction, i.e. social relations in which children are born and raised, although it imposes limits on their variations. (,,,) this family form [nuclear family unit of parents and children] is prevalent in capitalist societies; it is not, however, universal because those functions can be fulfilled within a variety of social arrangements”

FamilyBiologyNuclear FamilySocial ReproductionFamily FormsMode Od ReproductionMode Of Production
Book:Marx, Women, and Capitalist Social Reproduction: Marxist Feminist Essays
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