Seeking to extend our understanding of the contemporary global political economy, this book provides an important and original introduction to the current theoretical debates about social reproduction and argues for the necessity of linking social reproduction to specific contexts of power and production. It illustrates the analytic value of the concept of social reproduction through a series of case studies that examine the implications of how labor power is reproduced and how lives outside of work are lived. The issues examined in countries including the Ukraine, Chile, Spain, Nepal, India and Indonesia, consist of: Human trafficking and sex work Women and work Migration, labor and gender inequality Micro-credit programs and investing in women Health, biological reproduction and assisted reproductive technologies The book lends a unique perspective to the understandings of transformation in the global political economy precisely because of its simultaneous focus on the caring and provisioning of the everyday and its relationships to policies and decisions made at the national and international levels of both formal and informal institutions. With its multi-disciplinary approach, this book will be indispensable to students and scholars of International Political Economy, Development Studies, Gender or Women's Studies, International Studies, Globalization and International Relations.

Seeking to extend our understanding of the contemporary global political economy, this book provides an important and original introduction to the current theoretical debates about social reproduction and argues for the necessity of linking social reproduction to specific contexts of power and production. It illustrates the analytic value of the concept of social reproduction through a series of case studies that examine the implications of how labor power is reproduced and how lives outside of work are lived. The issues examined in countries including the Ukraine, Chile, Spain, Nepal, India and Indonesia, consist of: Human trafficking and sex work Women and work Migration, labor and gender inequality Micro-credit programs and investing in women Health, biological reproduction and assisted reproductive technologies The book lends a unique perspective to the understandings of transformation in the global political economy precisely because of its simultaneous focus on the caring and provisioning of the everyday and its relationships to policies and decisions made at the national and international levels of both formal and informal institutions. With its multi-disciplinary approach, this book will be indispensable to students and scholars of International Political Economy, Development Studies, Gender or Women's Studies, International Studies, Globalization and International Relations.

This issue addresses how laborers within intimate industries-those who do interpersonal work that tends to the sexual, bodily, health, hygiene, or care needs of individuals-are shaping Asia's growing role in the global economy. The contributors investigate how intimate industries support relational connections for consumers while disrupting laborers' relationships, as in the case of migrants who perform intimate labor away from their families and communities of origin. The articles collected here include examinations of such trade-offs and their complex meanings and implications for the workers. The authors explore these social processes through the lens of industries that organize, enable, or delimit the trade in domestic labor, marriage migration, companionship and romance, sex work, pornographic performance, surrogate mothering and ova donation, and cosmetics sales. This issue puts people, as embodied subjects, back into narratives of economic change and offers a perspective on globalization from below. Contributors: Daniele Belanger, Hae Yeon Choo, Nicole Constable, Daisy Deomampo, Akhil Gupta, Chaitanya Lakkimsetti, Pei-Chia Lan, Purnima Mankekar, Eileen Otis, Juno Salazar Parrenas, Rhacel Parrenas, Sharmila Rudrappa, Celine Parrenas Shimizu, Rachel Silvey, Hung Cam Thai, Leslie Wang