Defending the indefensible? Culture's role in the productive/unproductive dichotomy

Author: Brennan, David¹

Source: Feminist Economics, Volume 12, Number 3, July 2006 , pp. 403-425(23)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

The purpose of this article is to reveal the justifications for different production boundaries historically. It finds that the boundaries were and are predicated on an untenable productive/unproductive dichotomy that was justified on select and shifting cultural norms. Furthermore, the production boundary informed other categories like labor, capital, income, and wealth. Hence, this article exposes the degree to which economic categories were and are unstable, fragile, contested, and culturally embedded constructs. It then explores feminist-inspired production boundaries based on third-person criterion and finds that these boundaries are likewise culturally contingent. However, these new production boundaries merely do what economics has always attempted to do, which is to theorize production under different cultural circumstances. This article reaffirms the mutually constitutive role of culture and economic categories.

Keywords: Unpaid household work; culture; national income accounting; JEL Codes: B12, B13, B29

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/13545700600669675

Affiliations: 1: Franklin and Marshall College, Department of Economics, PO Box 3003, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 17604, USA

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