Disasters and Social Reproduction: Crisis Response between the State and Community

by Peer Illner

Reductions in state spending have put significant strain on communities during disasters. When hurricanes, floods and earthquakes hit, the responsibility for emergency relief is shifted from the state onto civil society. Disasters and Social Reproduction builds upon Marxist-Feminist elaborations of unwaged forms of labor, arguing that social reproduction theory is best understood as a dynamic between the state, the market and civil society.

Following the long economic crisis of the 1970s, disaster relief has become increasingly reliant on the unwaged reproductive labor of ordinary people, allowing the US state to cut back on social spending, a shift that has fundamentally reconfigured the responsibilities of the state and civil society. As sea levels rise, climate change worsens and we see an increase in disaster relief led by communities, this analysis of the interrelations between state, society and grassroots initiatives, including Occupy Sandy and the American Black Cross, will prove indispensable.

Genres: Feminism

208 pages, Hardcover

Published November 20, 2020

Reviews

[Hadeel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very lucidly written; the author does really well going over historical developments and breaking down Marxist concepts in an easy-to-understand way. It’s my first time reading something within the ‘disaster studies’ field, yet despite the short length of this book it gives you a comprehensive overview and materialist analysis of the way this field and the discourses within it have developed.

[Tyler Munn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic addition to the growing literature on social reproduction theory. My only critique is that it is too short! This book contains a great genealogy of disaster aid in the US from a social reproduction perspective. In it are fantastic critiques of disaster science theories.

The best chapters examine the history of a disaster, the prevailing theories at the time, and Illner's perspective through the lens of social reproduction. Every chapter does a great job of critiquing the prevailing sciences, but I could have used more of the social reproductive perspective.

The second to last chapter is the natural conclusion which has a few paragraphs about what organizing disaster aid from a social reproductive perspective would look like. It is a great starting point, but I would love to hear more of the author's perspective on what that could like.

Overall, this is a fantastic read and absolutely essential for understanding Covid-19 and the years to come as climate change produces more disasters revealing the big disaster of climate change. The book leaves me wanting more, but I suppose it is our job to write that future!

[Montana Goodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s rare to find a book so dedicated to tying our lived experience (positive or negative) to the material conditions that cause or allow for those experiences to happen. I appreciate that dedication and the clarity of ideas in this book. For such a short book, it’s quite dense, and despite it being from a Marxist feminist lens, there were only about two pages of feminist theory that went over my head. If you don’t know nothing about Marxism, I recommend you look up what the terms “dialectic” and “materialist” mean. Regardless of your knowledge of Marxism, you will definitely need a dictionary. I learned so many words!

The last chapter on 2020 is worth buying the book to read.

[Kelly]

Glad to have picked this up. Social reproduction theory was a new concept to me; parts of it were seriously over my head. At least I finally understand austerity as a state strategy.