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Revaluing work after COVID‐19

Revaluing work after COVID‐19 The COVID‐19 pandemic and its aftermath instigated a series of debates about economic value. From early discussions about “who counts as an essential worker” to post‐pandemic arguments about what constitutes the “infrastructure” needed to rebuild the economy, the pandemic led to reexaminations of the kinds of investments and activities necessary for the continuity of our social system. This article examines these debates through the lens of the labor theory of value as expanded by feminists and ecologists. Drawing on my 2017 book, The Politics of Value, I discuss how the political‐economic upheaval that the pandemic unleashed laid bare the essential nature of care and social reproductive work, low‐wage labor, public sector provisioning, and ecosystem services. The stark dilemmas of holding body and soul together during the crisis created an opportunity to rethink the artificial lines between the market and the rest of life, highlighting the essential nature of activities formerly unrecognized or considered nonproductive. The article discusses how we might take advantage of this opening to create new vocabularies and measurement practices that take into “account” and fairly reward formerly invisible and unvalued forms of labor. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Anthropology of Work Review Wiley

Revaluing work after COVID‐19

Anthropology of Work Review , Volume 44 (1) – Jul 1, 2023

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References (63)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2023 American Anthropological Association
ISSN
0883-024X
eISSN
1548-1417
DOI
10.1111/awr.12247
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic and its aftermath instigated a series of debates about economic value. From early discussions about “who counts as an essential worker” to post‐pandemic arguments about what constitutes the “infrastructure” needed to rebuild the economy, the pandemic led to reexaminations of the kinds of investments and activities necessary for the continuity of our social system. This article examines these debates through the lens of the labor theory of value as expanded by feminists and ecologists. Drawing on my 2017 book, The Politics of Value, I discuss how the political‐economic upheaval that the pandemic unleashed laid bare the essential nature of care and social reproductive work, low‐wage labor, public sector provisioning, and ecosystem services. The stark dilemmas of holding body and soul together during the crisis created an opportunity to rethink the artificial lines between the market and the rest of life, highlighting the essential nature of activities formerly unrecognized or considered nonproductive. The article discusses how we might take advantage of this opening to create new vocabularies and measurement practices that take into “account” and fairly reward formerly invisible and unvalued forms of labor.

Journal

Anthropology of Work ReviewWiley

Published: Jul 1, 2023

Keywords: care work; COVID‐19; labor; unions; value

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