I argue that the social reproduction discourse from the 1970s onwards, or the so-called domestic labour debate, has been about two things: value on the one hand, and the body and intimacy on the other. While there is a highly visible stake in how domestic labour is understood from the viewpoint of value, which is still debated today, the contribution of the discourse to understanding the body and intimacy in capitalism is more hidden and less discussed. In this paper, I review the discourse on social reproduction from the perspective of value, with a particular focus on recent contributions, Jared Sacks’ and Alessandra Mezzadri’s works. Then, I will discuss the discourse of social reproduction from the perspective of the body and intimacy and finally link this aspect to the lessons around value.
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