Care for the Working Class: The Political Economy of Care Work

This talk explores the work of Flora Tristan, an early thinker who bridged socialism and feminism, by examining her analysis of care work within political economy. Through texts such as The Workers’ Union, the presentation argues that Tristan’s framework accounts for both familial care and institutional support for the young, sick, and elderly. While her nineteenth-century writings reflect specific historical gender roles, the core of her argument offers a significant perspective in which economic and political rights are deeply integrated with the realities of unpaid care work.