ABSTRACT
This chapter will explore the indissociable dimensions of the social division of labour in capitalism, including racial, binary-gender, and territorial/international aspects. In the first section, we use a Marxist theoretical-methodological framework to reject essentialism and empiricism and to recover the principle of totality as vital to a historical-dialectical materialist approach. The chapter draws on contributions from the Theory of Social Reproduction, Marxist Theory of Dependence, Black Marxism, the experiences of originary peoples, and an interpretation of Marxism as a philosophy of praxis. In the second section, we present data on the social division of labour in Latin America and the Caribbean, pointing out three findings: (i) female workers, particularly those racialised as Black, Indigenous, and/or immigrant, are the most overexploited portion of the labour power in the region; (ii) this population is the most overloaded with reproductive and socially unrecognised work; and (iii) this population is subject to multiple forms of oppression and violence. The chapter also introduces a novel concept: the racial, binary-gendered, and territorial division of labour as a crucial factor to redefining the category ‘social issue’ and to informing the professional praxis of Social Workers, as their work directly impacts the reproduction of labour power. In conclusion, we assert that a Marxist perspective based on the concreteness of social reproduction as a totality is essential for contemporary revolutionary praxis.
