LARTS 390H — Social Reproduction: Theory, Analysis, and Critique

The guiding insight of social reproduction theory is that individuals and societies are continuously in the process of life-making: we are always producing and reproducing ourselves. In this honors course we will explore social reproduction as a frame for thinking not only about the way we make life, but the different and often overlapping ways we make and experience oppression. The class will first explore the history of social reproduction approaches to “class”, “gender”, “ability”, and processes of racialization. After tracing the history of this social reproduction approach, students will be asked to develop an account of how the theory ought to be arranged to provide a unified account that integrates class exploitation with myriad oppressions. We will then test the value and limits of the theory by using it to motivate social research. We will evaluate the extent to which theories of social reproduction generate both high quality social analyses, and critical judgments about problematic social realities. The class will therefore be both reading intensive in its development of social theory, and research intensive in the application of this theory to a chosen social phenomenon. The upshot will be an advanced and empirically fine-tuned theory that can be used to help understand and criticize society today.