The Global Household: Toward a Feminist Postcapitalist International Political Economy

Abstract

The goal of this article is to introduce a new category into international political economy-the global household-and to begin to widen the focus of international political economy to include nonmarket transactions and noncapitalist production. As an economic institution composed of transnational extended families and codwellers (including international migrants and family members left behind in countries of origin), the global household is engaged in coordinating international migration, sending and receiving billions of dollars in remittances, and organizing and conducting market- and non-market-oriented production on an international scale. We first trace the discursive antecedents of the global household concept to theories of the household as a site of noncapitalist production and to feminist ethnographies of transnational families. In order to demonstrate the potential significance and effect of this newly recognized institution, we estimate the aggregate population of global households, the size and distribution of remittances, and the magnitude and sectoral scope of global household production. We then examine the implications of the global household concept for three areas of inquiry: globalization, economic development, and the household politics of economic transformation. Finally, we briefly explore the possibilities for research and activism opened up by a feminist, postcapitalist international political economy centered on the global household.

Producing Migrant Domestic Work: Exploring the Everyday Political Economy of Malaysia's ‘Maid Shortage’

“…On the one hand, this is reflected in terms of the emergence of 'global households' (Safri and Graham, 2010)−often poor households in which one or more member has migrated but continues to send money back. But on the other hand, it is also a reflection of the ways through which states with large middle class populations, such as Malaysia, seek to plug gaps in welfare state provisioning and provide the perceived domestic labour needs of an ever growing and aspirational middle class.…”

“…Research on remittances has also pointed to their role in the reconfiguration and transformation of household relationships−not least in terms of how the rapid growth in temporary labour migration regimes is leading to the emergence of forms of 'global householding' (Douglass, 2009) that significantly challenge the way in which we understand both the dynamics of household life and the nature of social reproduction. Thus, for migrants, the 'space' of the household comes to be stretched across national boundaries -migrants are bound to their households 'back home' via financial ties (Safri and Graham 2010) Research on the gendered impacts of migration not only points to the reconfigured household relations and daily practices that stem from the increased reliance of poor households on remittances but has also looked at the gendered logics and assumptions that underpin this social transformation. As Kunz (2010) argues, there is a persistent failure by International Financial Institutions to recognise how remittance flows are gendered beyond some rather dubious assertions concerning how women are more reliable (even 'rational') economic subjects who are more likely to remit a higher proportion of savings and, when they are 'left behind', are better able to manage household finances.…”

“…We find the literature on social reproduction to be of particular significance to our analysis given the way in which it has sought to bring together a concern with the everyday of 'life's work' (Mitchell, Marston and Katz, 2003) with an analysis of the overarching political economic regulatory shifts that sustain broader regimes of social reproduction and capital accumulation more generally (Bakker 2007). Recent writings have also emphasised how social reproduction itself has very much 'gone global'−drawing households into transnationalized webs of socially reproductive relations that serve to reconfigure care relations in both state that predominately host migrant domestic workers and states that send large numbers of domestic workers abroad ('host' and 'sender; states) (Safri and Graham, 2010;Elias and Gunawardana, 2013). The rescaling of the household in this manner is a crucial component of the disputes over transnational domestic work in Southeast Asia-underlining both the reliance of many middle class households on migrant labour and the significant role of remittances to household survival strategies especially in poor rural areas.…”

“…It is notable that the rescaling of the household into the 'global household' (Safri and Graham, 2010) is not matched by a greater recognition of, or value placed upon, the work that goes on within households. Rather, deeply exploitative practices of labour exportation and control serve to produce understandings of domestic workers as mere export commodities.…”

Choices or Rights? Charter Schools and the Politics of Choice-Based Education Policy Reform

“…7 While the U.S. has always been more of an experiment in capitalism than an experiment in democracy in the radical sense of the term, we refuse to do as the neoliberals and erase or obscure the historic struggles and victories 5 See, for example, Saltman (2012, 8). 6 See, for example, Federici (1975), Vogel (2000); for analysis on a global scale, see Mies (1986) and Safri and Graham (2010). 7 Dean (2009, 76).…”