POL 4275 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Basic Income, Utopia, Feminist Theory
30 Apr 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Kathi Weeks Wrap Up
General Recap
●Feminist theory of freedom
●A critique of work politics
○Critique work from the standpoint of freedom
●Chp 1 & 2
○What is work? Define
○What is the value of work? Evaluate
○Recognition of unpaid work
●Chp 3 & 4
○Provocation and proposal
○1) Wages for housework → Basic income
○2) Reduced work day
●Weeks’ solution:
○Family-Centered Approach
■Less time for work = more time for family
○“What We Will”
■Confront work ethic and family ethic
Concrete Proposals
●Guaranteed basic income
●Reduced work week/time
●Both of these are a part of a broader struggle for freedom: freedom from work
Chp 5 - Utopianism
●Critique - Could be construed as negatively utopian
○Hard to conceive
●Weeks’ - turn this into a positive, why utopian is good
○Our politics should all be more utopian anyway
●(176) “a utopian demand prefigures”
○Prefiguration - concept from Autonomous Marxist/anarchist politics
○The how/way of your struggle should in the present try to bring about the very
goal you’re attempted to achieve
■Exp. Pacifists struggle in a peaceful manner precisely to bring about world
peace (means correspond to the ends)
●Weeks mentions critiques of anti-utopianism
○K. Popper, F. Fukuyama
Document Summary
Critique work from the standpoint of freedom. 1) wages for housework basic income. Less time for work = more time for family. Both of these are a part of a broader struggle for freedom: freedom from work. Critique - could be construed as negatively utopian. Weeks" - turn this into a positive, why utopian is good. Our politics should all be more utopian anyway. Prefiguration - concept from autonomous marxist/anarchist politics. The how/way of your struggle should in the present try to bring about the very goal you"re attempted to achieve. Pacifists struggle in a peaceful manner precisely to bring about world peace (means correspond to the ends)
