The Invisible Proletariat of the Care Economy
The home health aide workforce, predominantly Black and immigrant women, represents the most invisible stratum of the proletariat in the bifurcated care economy. Mamdani’s framework illuminates their status as “native” subjects governed by a “customary” law of isolation and extreme exploitation within the private sphere. They are denied overtime pay, subjected to arbitrary schedules, and perform the most intimate labor under precarious conditions, enabling the state to abdicate its responsibility for elder and disability care. A Marxist-feminist analysis identifies this as the absolute frontier of hyper-exploited reproductive labor. The solution is the destruction of this isolating custom through the building of a powerful, industry-wide union to win living wages and benefits, and the fight for a public, universal care system that values this work and frees both the care receiver and the giver from the tyranny of the private market.
Originally posted 2025-10-25 22:37:41.
