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Looking
Forward. By Michael
Albert and Robin Hahnel 11. Conclusion
and Transition
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Imagine a
society with a participatory economy but a sexist kinship sphere. That is,
suppose that most work associated with maintenance of living units and
bringing up children was still done by women. What would happen? If
households were treated as economic units, the principle of balanced
complexes within units would conflict with this sexist division of tasks.
Sexism would have to disappear or the norms of participatory economics would
have to be jettisoned. Alternatively,
however, if housework and child-rearing were deemed personal responsibilities
not subject to the norms of participatory economics, a sexist division of
kinship activities would subject women to double duty - a full and equal
share in the economy and child-care and housekeeping as well. Participatory
economic and sexist arrangements might co-exist for a time, but the effects
of participatory economics on actors' personalities, capabilities and values
would undermine sexist violations of equality, self management, and variety
in the home. In reverse, however, the effects of sexist kinship relations in
the home and families would subvert equality, self management, and variety at
work and in consumption In short, the institutions and roles in two critical
aspects of social life would have contradictory implications for actors'
attitudes so that in due course either one or the other would alter. Once this
reciprocity is understood, it becomes clear that the problem of building a participatory
economy is intimately linked with the problem of building a feminist kinship
sphere. Moreover, the same reasoning applies to issues of politics, race,
culture, ecology, and international relations. Therefore anyone seriously
interested in attaining a desirable economy (or polity, kinship sphere, or
culture) has to be interested in simultaneously attaining compatible, equally
desirable relations throughout society.
In the economy, therefore, we must incorporate structures and procedures that
safeguard against sexist, racist, or otherwise socially oppressive
arrangements. The only
references to these matters in this book were in discussions of the
organization of living units and of workplace caucuses of cultural minorities
and women in workplaces. Obviously, a lot is missing. In part, in other works
we have treated these issues, including how relations in different dimensions
interact and, to a point, what would be desirable goals for kinship,
political, cultural, ecological, and international dimensions of social life.
References can be found in the sidebar on page 6 of this book. But there is
much more work to be done. Many readers
will no doubt share our view that there should be role and material equality
between men and women and all social/cultural groups, freedom of sexual
preference and respect for diversity of sexual and social choices, freedom
for any cultural minority to practice its beliefs without fear of penalty,
full political participation for all members of society, full dissemination
of information and skills essential to making political decisions, respect
for the natural environment both as it affects humanity and in its own right,
and an equalization of wealth on an international scale. But more detailed
descriptions of cultural, kinship, political, ecological, and international
institutions still need to be developed. |
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