Political economy under a feminist-materialist analysis: the imbrication of social relations of sex, race and class

Abstract

In this article, we aim to highlight some significant contributions of materialist feminism to critical analysis of the political economy of capital. To this end, we conducted a literature search through which we dialogue with the work of black feminists, heterodox Marxist feminists, and some decolonial feminists and lesbians. In the era of neoliberal globalization, the “devalued” and “considered female” work performed by feminized and / or racialized bodies is marked by the intensification of the workday, precariousness and free labor. Sexual relations allow women's work, body and time to be appropriated for free. Male and / or racialized bodies are attributed to war and security. These "armed men" generate daily violence that keeps "women on duty" in a situation of precariousness and permanent overwork. At the same time, they provide a direct utility / reinforcement to the capital economy to reconstruct what they constantly destroy. Only by considering the dynamic and dialectic interweaving of social relations of sex, race, and class, in all their complexity, can we think of ways to simultaneously abolish the inequalities, oppressions, appropriations, and exploitations that structure social inequalities.