Embedded Files
Helpful prior knowledge and learning objectives
Helpful prior knowledge and learning objectives
Helpful prior learning:
Section 1.1.1 The economy and you, which explains what an economy is and how it is relevant to students’ lives
Section 1.1.2 The embedded economy, which explains the relationship between the economy and society and Earth’s systems.
Section 1.3.3 Human needs, which explains the distinction between needs and need satisfiers
Section 1.3.7 Care in the economy, which explains the importance of care in the economy, the types of care, and why care is undervalued
Section 2.1.1 The household as a system, which describes households, the basic relationships of household members, and the connection between the household and the rest of the economy.
Section S.1 What are systems?, which explains what a system is, the importance of systems boundaries, the difference between open and closed systems and the importance of systems thinking
Section S.2 Systems thinking patterns, which outlines the core components of systems thinking: distinctions (thing/other), systems (part/whole), relationships (action/reaction), and perspectives (point/view)
Learning objectives:
describe some regenerative economic functions of households, including direct and indirect care, distribution and socialisation
Adam Smith is widely regarded as the ‘father’ of modern economics. His most famous work, The Wealth of Nations, was written while living with his mother Margaret Douglas. While Smith developed new economic theories of production, Margaret managed their home, meeting his daily needs, from providing dinner to keeping his study clean. However, Margaret's care work was entirely overlooked in Smith’s theories.
In The Wealth of Nations, Smith asks how we get our dinner. His response:
It is not from the benevolence [kindness] of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.
Smith credits the self-interest of food sellers for making food available to us. Ironically, the unpaid household care work supporting the butcher, brewer, and baker, gets no recognition.
Figure 1. Portrait of Margaret Douglas of Strathendry, the mother of Adam Smith
(Credit: Wikimedia Commons public domain)
Smith’s theories are complex and other writings are more nuanced human relationships and responsibilities. Nonetheless, economists often overlook household care, leading to insufficient support for this vital work in our economies and societies.
Social scientist Shahra Razavi explains the importance of care in the short video below.
This section outlines the diverse regenerative functions of the household, and the next Section 2.1.4 highlights the important skills involved in householding work.
What are the social functions of the household?
What are the social functions of the household?
Our social systems rely on human beings and rely on households to create, develop and maintain human capabilities. Some economists call this social reproduction, but here we will use the term social regeneration. Households significantly impact human wellbeing by meeting basic human needs every day. The direct care and indirect care, distribution and socialisation relationships in households ensure survival and help individuals handle physical, emotional and social challenges. Well-functioning households provide refuge, where humans recover, learn and develop.
Social regeneration: direct care
Social regeneration: direct care
Direct care is a form of social regeneration that addresses immediate human needs, usually involving physical contact between caregiver and care-receiver. Examples include feeding and bathing a baby, assisting a disabled person with mobility, dressing an elderly person, and helping a child with homework.
Direct care requires the full attention of the caregiver, making it labour-intensive. Caregivers at home often cannot do other tasks, like paid work, because their physical presence is needed for care work. This is why paid care leave is important for household financial stability (Subtopic 2.4).
People receiving direct care are often highly dependent on the caregiver, maybe for their very survival. The personal nature of this physical contact requires trust and strong relationships. Effective caregivers do more than care for others, they care about them. This emotional bond can make caregivers vulnerable to exploitation and leads to other inequalities (Section 2.3.2).
Figure 2. Direct care addresses immediate human needs like feeding a baby.
(Credit: Lan Yao, Pexels licence)
Social regeneration: indirect care
Social regeneration: indirect care
Indirect care is a form of social regeneration that creates conditions for human survival and wellbeing, such as cooking, cleaning, fetching water, repairing, shopping, planning, and community engagement (Section 2.1.4). These activities require certain skills and take significant time to do.
Indirect care benefits both individuals and society. Healthy, strong, social individuals can better support others in their households and in the other provisioning institutions -- markets, commons, and the state.
Social regeneration: distribution and socialisation
Social regeneration: distribution and socialisation
People in households perform essential functions beyond direct and indirect care. The distribution function refers to people ensuring that all household members have access to time, money, and assets, providing economic security and stability. This internal distribution to household dependents makes households and communities more stable and resilient. Therefore, it's important for the state and businesses in markets to support households in this role, making sure that they have the time, money and assets to distribute to dependents. Power relationships influence how resources are distributed within households, discussed in Section 2.3.1.
The household socialisation function involves household members teaching the language, behaviours and values necessary for effective social participation to younger generations (Figure 4). This process preserves cultural heritage, teaches valuable skills and shapes how well individuals support their communities.
Figure 4. Households socialise children, teaching them social norms and passing down cultural heritage
(Credit: Kevin Malik CC0)
What are the ecological functions of the household?
What are the ecological functions of the household?
Households can support Earth systems, directly and indirectly.
Ecological regeneration: direct care
Ecological regeneration: direct care
Do you care for plants and animals in your household? If so, you’re not alone. Humans often directly care for plants and animals, especially in rural areas. Household members may engage in farming, either for their own food or to sell in markets. Farmers can use regenerative farming techniques to support biodiversity and create healthy, carbon-rich soils. In rural areas, humans and animals often live close together. Some people value animals intrinsically, recognising their right to exist and caring for them accordingly. Others value animals instrumentally for their usefulness, which can lead to exploitation.
Household members in suburban and urban areas can also directly care for plants and animals. They plant and care for vegetation to provide habitats and food for bees and birds. Urban greening also cools the air and slows the movement of water through the built environment to prevent flooding and increase groundwater. Urban and suburban residents may have relationships with pets or engage in activities like beekeeping (Figure 6).
Figure 5. In rural areas, people often live close to and directly care for animals.
(Credit: Rachel Claire, Pexels licence)
Figure 6. Urban beekeeping is becoming more popular
(Credit: Shawn Caza, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
As in rural areas, these relationships between humans and animals range from caring to exploitative. To move to regenerative economies, our direct care for the rest of the living world must become more caring and less exploitative, involving respect, support and awe of the rest of the living world, rather than simply meeting human ends.
Ecological regeneration: indirect care
Ecological regeneration: indirect care
Households play a major role in how well our economies transfer and transform energy and matter to meet human needs. As discussed in Section 1.3.3, human needs are universal, but the ways we meet them vary, so everyday household decisions impact the rest of the living world.
For example, all humans need water to survive, but our access to water differs depending on energy and material resources, technology, culture and values. Some people fetch water from distant rivers because there is no infrastructure to transport it locally. Where local access exists, some people consume water from a private or communal tap. Some household members consume only bottled water, still or fizzy. Still others consume soft drinks with flavourings and sugar added to water (Figure 7).
These different need satisfiers affect energy use, land, water, pollution, biodiversity and climate change and they impact human health differently. In some cases, households have limited options, especially in rural areas without water infrastructure. However, those with higher incomes can choose between high-impact (bottled water, soft drinks) or low-impact (tap water) options.
To achieve a regenerative economy, high-income households must make choices that protect and enhance Earth systems. This indirect care for ecosystems impacts the socialisation of younger generations, as they are taught householding and values by example. It also sends a signal to businesses in markets to produce sustainable goods and services (Section 3.1.2) and guides the state on public services and regulations needed for a regenerative economy (Topic 5).
Figure 7. Bad for human health, bad for planetary boundaries. We can make better decisions about how to satisfy our needs, made easier with regenerative businesses (Topic 3) and state policies (Topic 5)
(Credit: Sulav Jung Hamal, Pexels licence)
Activity 2.1.3
Activity 2.1.3
Concept: systems, regeneration
Skills: thinking skills (transfer)
Time: varies, depending on the option
Type: individual, pairs or group
Option 1: How do the members of your household fulfil their regenerative functions?
Time: 30-40 minutes
Consider the regeneration activities that household members carry out: social/ecological direct care, social/ecological indirect care, distribution and socialisation.
Reflect on your own household and list some things that household members do in each category.
Identify some connections between these activities across categories - how are these activities related?
Imagine what your life would be like if the members of your household do not fulfil these functions? How would that impact your physical, emotional and social wellbeing?
If you can and feel comfortable doing so, discuss your reflections about your own household with another student or in a small group to find similarities and differences in how your households carry out their regenerative function. What accounts for the similarities and differences?
Option 2: Household functions and the social foundation of the Doughnut Model
Time: 25 minutes
If you have learned about the Doughnut Economics model (Figure 7) in Section 1.1.4 or Section 1.3.4, you can do this activity.
Consider the various types of social regeneration that household members carry out to fulfil their general regenerative function: direct care, indirect care, distribution and socialisation. Use these to make four headings on a piece of paper or digital document.
Now, examine the various human needs from the social foundation (inner ring) of the Doughnut. Place each of those needs under one or more household social regeneration. You might do this individually first, then share and discuss with a partner or small group. Or you might start with a partner or small group and discuss along the way.
What insights did you have about the different social regeneration functions of household members and their relationship to human needs?
Option 3: Discussion - Should unpaid care work be paid?
Time: 40 minutes
Use a discussion format that you are familiar with to consider whether unpaid care work should be paid. Assume that there is a feasible way to pay for currently unpaid care and domestic work.
Before discussing, take time to brainstorm some arguments for and against paying for unpaid care. After you have some of your own arguments, you may want to consider those below. Classify them as either for payment (“For”), or against (“Against”) payment for unpaid care. Arguments come from Economies that Dare to Care, Hot or Cool Institute.
Paying for care does not challenge the underlying gender roles and inequality associated with care work. For/Against?
In our current economies, activities with no financial exchange are undervalued and ignored. We want care work to be valued and recognised. For/Against?
Paid carers usually earn little money. Financial exchange does not necessarily result in greater social and economic value of caring activities. For/Against?
Care work tends to be environmentally-friendly work, and we have a huge shortage of carers worldwide. It would be better for people and planet if a larger proportion of people worked in care instead of ecologically and socially damaging activities. For/Against?
Currently, caregivers have to make the difficult choice between dropping out of the workforce and providing unpaid care to loved ones themselves, or going out to work to pay for others to provide care. For/Against?
When care is paid for in markets, there is often pressure to deliver it with as little time and cost as possible to maximise profits. For/Against?
Care work is valuable to the economy and society, but without pay, carers remain financially dependent now and in the future through reduced retirement contributions. For/Against?
Paid care may be shifted from women in the Global North to migrant women from the Global South, whose journey, lack of power and global care chains can put them in vulnerable positions. For/Against?
Ideas for longer activities and projects are listed in Subtopic 2.5 Taking Action
Checking for understanding
Checking for understanding
Further exploration
Further exploration
Economy is Care - a short, award-winning animation about care in the economy. Difficulty level: easy
The Magic Basket - a short, funny video about invisible care work. Difficulty level: easy
In these three videos, renowned development economist Jayati Ghosh explains feminist perspectives on the economy. Because so much paid and unpaid care work is done by women and girls, care is fundamentally a feminist economics issue. Difficulty level: medium
Time to Care: Unpaid and underpaid care work and the global inequality crisis - A report from Oxfam International about undervalued care work and its link to inequality. Report is available in Arabic, English, French, Korean and Spanish. Difficulty level: medium.
How Economics Forgot about Women - a Tedx Youth@Manchester talk by Katrine Marçal, the author of the book Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner, on which the introduction to this section is based. She discusses the blindspot in economics for all the unpaid care and domestic work done by women in society in households and beyond. Difficulty level: medium
7 Days of Garbage - Interview with Gregg Segal, the artist who photographed families with seven days worth of their garbage to raise awareness about consumer culture and waste. Difficulty level: easy
Sources
Sources
Coffey, C. et al. (2020). Time to Care: Unpaid and underpaid care work and the global inequality crisis. Oxfam International. https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/time-to-care-unpaid-and-underpaid-care-work-and-the-global-inequality-crisis-620928/
Folbre, N. (2005, August). Caring Labor. Transversal. https://transversal.at/transversal/0805/folbre/en
Folbre, N. (2014). Who Cares? A feminist critique of the care economy. New York: Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung New York Office.
Ghosh, J. (2022, September 5). Defining Care: Conceptualisations and Particularities. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. https://feps-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/220905_Gosh_Article_1_final_online.pdf.
International Labor Organization. Care work and care jobs for the future of decent work. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_633166.pdf
Lorek, S., Power, K., and Parker, N. (2023). Economies that Dare to Care - Achieving social justice and preventing ecological breakdown by putting care at the heart of our societies. Hot or Cool Institute, Berlin. https://hotorcool.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Economies-that-Dare-to-Care.pdf
Marçal, K. (2018). Who cooked Adam Smith’s dinner? A story about women and economics. Granta.
Praetorius, I. (2023, July 2). Talking about care in public. ConFusion. https://creativeconfusionblog.wordpress.com/2023/02/07/talking-about-care-in-public/
Von Schweitzer, R. (1993). Haushaltswissenschaftliche Paradigmen zwischen Ökonomie und Soziologie. In Gräbe, S. (Hrsg.): Der private Haushalt im wissenschaftlichen Diskurs. Frankfurt am Main.
Wirtschaft ist Care. https://wirtschaft-ist-care.org/english/
Terminology (in order of appearance)
Terminology (in order of appearance)
Link to Quizlet interactive flashcards and terminology games for Section 2.1.3 Household functions
care: the act of providing what is necessary for the health, welfare, upkeep, and protection of someone or something
household: a system where people living together care for each other and do domestic work, often termed the 'core economy'
economy: all the human-made systems that transfer and transform energy and matter to meet human needs and wants
regenerate: the process of restoring and revitalising something
householding: managing a household, including all both direct and indirect care skills
social regeneration (social reproduction): the work done in households to create, develop and maintain human capabilities
direct care: care that addresses an immediate need, often involves physical contact between caregiver and care-receiver
indirect care: care that supports the living conditions that humans need to survive and thrive
distribution: how something is allocated or shared among different groups or individuals
socialisation: the process of learning to behave in a way that is acceptable to society
care leave: time off of paid work used to care for others; can be paid or unpaid by the employer or state
exploitation: using and benefiting from resources; the term is often used negatively to imply using power to take advantage of a situation
provisioning institutions: a group of people and their relationships as they try to meet human needs and wants
distribution function: a household function that ensures all members have access to time, money, and assets
asset: something that is useful or valuable
dependent: a household member who requires a lot of support from others to survive and thrive, such as children, elderly or disabled
resilient: able to recover after a disturbance
power: the ability to influence events or the behaviour of other people
socialisation function: a household function that involves teaching the language, behaviours and values necessary for effective social participation to younger generations
regenerative farming: farming in balance with and strengthening natural systems
biodiversity: the variety of living organisms on Earth
intrinsic value: when something has value simply for what it is
instrumental value: when something has value for its use for human beings
built environment: human-made structures or conditions in an area
groundwater: water that collects underground in soil or in rock crevices and pores
regenerative economy: an economic system that meets human needs in a way that strengthens social and ecological systems
transfer: to move something from one place to another
transform: a change in the state, energy or chemical nature of something
energy: the ability to do work or cause change
matter: anything that takes up space and has mass
infrastructure: large scale physical systems that a society needs to function (roads, railways, electricity networks, etc)
need satisfier: a specific way that people meet their needs
ecosystem: the interaction of groups of organisms with each other and their physical environment
regulation: a rule that guides individual or group behaviour and enforced by an authority
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