Suchergebnisse

Research into the divisions of domestic work between men and women living in Wearside — an area which suffered high and sustained levels of male unemployment in the 1970s and 1980s — suggests that the restructuring of the local economy is having a significant impact on gender relations within the home.

There is a strong theme in contemporary Marxism which argues that the monopoly stage of capitalism requires a different analysis from that provided by Marx, who is seen as essentially examining a competitive stage. Such a view leads to a questioning of the law of value as a law of regulation of capitalism, operating through the formation of an average profit rate. It is important to ask how far modern Marxists have been able to return to, develop and make use of Marx's analytical ideas. This is something that has to date not been comprehensively done (although Semmler in his article in Capital and Class 18 raised many pertinent issues, so providing the inspiration for this article). Using a history of economic thought approach, this piece will examine the concepts of competition and monopoly in the Marxist tradition.

AbstractMany voluntary organizations depend greatly on the unpaid services of older volunteers, a significant number of whom are women. At the same time, shifts in welfare policy have been towards emphasizing individual economic autonomy and self‐provisioning, often to the detriment of older, more vulnerable members of society. Using data from an organization working for and with older people in the North‐East of England and through in‐depth qualitative interviews, our study found that volunteering is an expression of citizenship for older people. In our analysis, we identify two strands in the meanings of citizenship for older people: volunteering as leisure and work, and volunteering as care and civic consciousness. These correspond with liberal conceptualizations of citizenship and republican models of citizenship. Data from our in‐depth interviews demonstrate a strong commitment to society and fellow citizens among older people that counterbalances individualistic and instrumental reasons for volunteering promoted by the state and market. Our findings suggest that government views of volunteering as a route to paid work, as a panacea for society and therefore needing to be more 'work‐like', are discordant with the perspectives of older volunteers. Rather than the neo‐liberal views of the 'citizen‐worker' or 'citizen‐consumer', citizenship that is based on the 'common good' and feminist perspectives of 'caring citizenship' are arguably more beneficial to society. Finally, we describe the pressures and constraints facing older people that could discourage formal volunteering in the future.