IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/reorpe/v33y2001i4p401-414.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

To market, to market: Imperial capitalism's destruction of social capital and the family

Author

Listed:
  • David H. Ciscel

    (Department of Economics, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA)

  • Julia A. Heath

    (Department of Economics, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA; Tel.: +1-1901-678-2785; fax: +1-901-678-8397 jheath@cc.memphis.edu)

Abstract

The market, far from being the sine qua non for modem society in general, and the family in particular, has eroded the social fiber that gives shape and resilience to the experiences of individuals, families, and ultimately, the market itself. Reviewing both historical and feminist analysis of the family in a capitalist market society, it is clear that the modem market is imperial. Not only does it transform every human interaction into a transient market exchange, it undermines the basis for social reproduction through the family. Using the concept of social capital as a primary analytical tool, this paper argues that the distinction between home and market labor has been unnecessarily polarized, limiting policy options. Thus, society's ability to produce and maintain long-standing social networks is put at risk, paradoxically reducing the market's ability to perform efficiently.

Suggested Citation

  • David H. Ciscel & Julia A. Heath, 2001. "To market, to market: Imperial capitalism's destruction of social capital and the family," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 401-414, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:33:y:2001:i:4:p:401-414
    DOI: 10.1177/048661340103300403
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/048661340103300403
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/048661340103300403?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barbara R. Bergmann, 1996. "Becker’s Theory of the Family: Preposterous Conclusions," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(2), pages 9-12, March.
    2. Julia A. Heath, 1990. "Non-Employed Women, Marriage and the Sisyphus Syndrome," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 103-114, March.
    3. Samuel Bowles, 1998. "Endogenous Preferences: The Cultural Consequences of Markets and Other Economic Institutions," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 75-111, March.
    4. Julia Heath & David Ciscel & David Sharp, 1998. "The Work of Families: The Provision of Market and Household labor and the Role of Public Policy," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(4), pages 501-521.
    5. Julie Nelson, 1999. "Of Markets And Martyrs: Is It OK To Pay Well For Care?," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(3), pages 43-59.
    6. Nancy Folbre, 1995. ""Holding hands at midnight": The paradox of caring labor," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 73-92.
    7. Susan Himmelweit, 1995. "The Discovery of 'Unpaid Work': the social consequences of the expansion of 'work'," Open Discussion Papers in Economics 6, The Open University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bezemer, Dirk & Dulleck, Uwe & Frijters, Paul, 2005. "Social Capital, Creative Destruction and Economic Development," Research Report 05C09, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    2. Wicks, Rick, 2011. "Assumption without representation: the unacknowledged abstraction from communities and social goods," MPRA Paper 51674, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Miguel, Edward A. & Gertler, Paul & Levine, David I., 2003. "Did Industrialization Destroy Social Capital in Indonesia?," Center for International and Development Economics Research, Working Paper Series qt9kt2m860, Center for International and Development Economics Research, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    4. repec:dgr:rugsom:05c09 is not listed on IDEAS

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marina Sánchez, 2015. "De la reproducción económica a la sostenibilidad de la vida," Revista de Economia Critica, Asociacion de Economia Critica, vol. 19, pages 58-76.
    2. Antigone Lyberaki, 2008. "“Deae ex Machina”: migrant women, care work and women’s employment in Greece," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 20, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    3. İdil S. Soyseçkin Ceylan, 2016. "In the Middle of a Family Story," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(1), pages 21582440156, February.
    4. Zdravka, Todorova, 2009. "Employer of Last Resort Policy and Feminist Economics: Social Provisioning and Socialization of Investment," MPRA Paper 16240, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Gillian Hewitson, 2001. "A Survey of Feminist Economics," Working Papers 2001.01, School of Economics, La Trobe University.
    6. Singh, Neera M., 2015. "Payments for ecosystem services and the gift paradigm: Sharing the burden and joy of environmental care," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 53-61.
    7. van Staveren, I.P., 2005. "Five methodological approaches for research on gender and trade impacts," ISS Working Papers - General Series 19176, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    8. Lyberaki, Antigone, 2008. "“Deae ex Machina”: migrant women, care work and women’s employment in Greece," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 23183, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. M. V. Lee BADGETT & Nancy FOLBRE, 1999. "Assigning care: Gender norms and economic outcomes," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 138(3), pages 311-326, September.
    10. Sarah-Louise Ruder & Sophia Rose Sanniti, 2019. "Transcending the Learned Ignorance of Predatory Ontologies: A Research Agenda for an Ecofeminist-Informed Ecological Economics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-29, March.
    11. Susan Donath, 2000. "The Other Economy: A Suggestion for a Distinctively Feminist Economics," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 115-123.
    12. Lourdes BENERÍA, 1999. "The enduring debate over unpaid labour," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 138(3), pages 287-309, September.
    13. Margaret Lewis & Kimmarie McGoldrick, 2001. "Moving Beyond the Masculine Neoclassical Classroom," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 91-103.
    14. Shelley Phipps, "undated". "Economics and Well-Being of Canadian Children," Canadian International Labour Network Working Papers 35, McMaster University.
    15. Mogues, Tewodaj & Carter, Michael R., 2003. "Social Capital and Incentive Compatibility: Modelling the Accumulation and Use of Social Collateral," Staff Paper Series 460, University of Wisconsin, Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    16. Nicolai J. Foss, 2012. "Linking Ethics and Economic Growth: a Comment on Hunt," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 6(3), September.
    17. Heineck, Guido & Süssmuth, Bernd, 2013. "A different look at Lenin’s legacy: Social capital and risk taking in the Two Germanies," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 789-803.
    18. Engelhardt, Sebastian v. & Freytag, Andreas, 2013. "Institutions, culture, and open source," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 90-110.
    19. Karla Hoff & Mayuresh Kshetramade & Ernst Fehr, 2011. "Caste and Punishment: the Legacy of Caste Culture in Norm Enforcement," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(556), pages 449-475, November.
    20. Francesco Rullani, 2005. "The Debate and the Community. “Reflexive Identity” in the FLOSS Community," LEM Papers Series 2005/18, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Markets; Social update; Family; Work;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:33:y:2001:i:4:p:401-414. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.urpe.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.