Development as transfer of reproductive labor in the work of Ignácio Rangel: the dissolution of the rural complex in light of the theory of social reproduction

The theory of social reproduction (TSR) demonstrates the totality of capitalist exploitation, dialectically relating productive and reproductive labor in the same contradictory unit. In the 1950s in Brazil, another intellectual also addressed the issue of reproductive labor: Ignácio Rangel. The economist from Maranhão believed that development could only come with the process of opening up the rural complex. This process would highlight the relevance of a portion of the workforce that is invisible to most economists: women's labor in what he called the “natural economy.” This article aims to analyze the importance of women's labor for economic development in the work of Ignácio Rangel. Thus, I mobilize the TRS to interpret the relationships that Rangel makes between labor in the market and in the natural economy. I suggest that it is the understanding of capitalism as an integrated and differentiated totality - where productive and reproductive labor establish a dialectical relationship - that brings Rangel closer to the TRS.

Keywords:
Rangel; Ignácio; 1914-1994; Development; Reproductive labor; Rural complex; Social reproduction theory.