Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale

Maria Mies

'It is my thesis that this general production of life, or subsistence production - mainly performed through the non-wage labour of women and other non-wage labourers as slaves, contract workers and peasants in the colonies - constitutes the perennial basis upon which "capitalist productive labour" can be built up and exploited.'First published in 1986, Maria Mies's progressive book was hailed as a major paradigm shift for feminist theory, and it remains a major contribution to development theory and practice today.Tracing the social origins of the sexual division of labour, it offers a history of the related processes of colonization and 'housewifization' and extends this analysis to the contemporary new international division of labour. Mies's theory of capitalist patriarchy has become even more relevant today.This new edition includes a substantial new introduction in which she both applies her theory to the new globalized world and answers her critics.

Foreword by Silvia FedericiPreface to the critique influence change editionIntroduction1. What is Feminism?2. Social Origins of the Sexual Division of Labour3. Colonization and Housewifization4. Housewifization International: Women and the International Division of Labour5. Violence Against Women and the Ongoing Primitive Accumulation of Capital6. National Liberation and Women's Liberation7. Towards a Feminist Perspective of a New Society