Jennifer Denbow's "Reproductive Labor and Innovation" critically examines the pervasive focus on technoscientific innovation in contemporary American society and its detrimental impact on reproductive labor and care work. The book argues that the overvaluation of innovation, a key aspect of neoliberalism, directly contributes to the devaluation of reproductive labor and the inadequate social support systems surrounding it. Denbow analyzes various 'reproductive fixes' or technological solutions presented as answers to reproductive challenges, highlighting how these often obscure underlying structural issues. The author connects innovation discourse to the rise of neoliberalism and financialized capitalism, demonstrating how this dynamic exacerbates existing inequalities. Ultimately, the book advocates for a shift towards collective support for reproduction and a reevaluation of the disproportionate emphasis on innovation.
In Reproductive Labor and Innovation: Against the Tech Fix in an Era of Hype (Duke UP, 2024), Jennifer Denbow examines how the push toward technoscientific innovation in contemporary American life often comes at the expense of the care work and reproductive labor that is necessary for society to function. Noting that the gutting of social welfare programs has shifted the burden of solving problems to individuals, Denbow argues that the aggrandizement of innovation and the degradation of reproductive labor are intertwined facets of neoliberalism. She shows that the construction of innovation as a panacea to social ills justifies the accumulation of wealth for corporate innovators and the impoverishment of those feminized and racialized people who do the bulk of reproductive labor. Moreover, even innovative technology aimed at reproduction—such as digital care work platforms and noninvasive prenatal testing—obscure structural injustices and further devalue reproductive labor.
By drawing connections between innovation discourse, the rise of neoliberalism, financialized capitalism, and the social and political degradation of reproductive labor, Denbow illustrates what needs to be done to destabilize the overvaluation of innovation and to offer collective support for reproduction.
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New Books in Critical Theory