ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the nexus of economic and social spheres is that work and home come to be regarded as so separate, that is, the division between the economic and social spheres within capitalist societies. The nature of the relation between economic and social life has long been the subject of theoretical debate among social scientists. Since most people work and live within the same locality, locally distinct production is associated with particular labor forces, which in turn may be associated with specific social structures. The chapter examines some important, interlinked changes in the spatial economy, state welfare services and social life during the last thirty years. Most adults in the MDCs need to seek waged work in order to have a reasonable standard of living: state benefits may be adequate for a time, but in most MDCs are set at poverty levels; genuine self-employment is only a small minority of employment, and much is low income or insecure.
