GCSJ seminar series: The andro-white marketization of Volunteer and Community Services (VCSs): a case study of London’s social reproduction crisis

Speakers:

Dr Lorena Lombardozzi’s research interests relate to the theoretical debates on political economy, inequality, growth and distribution as well as to applied areas of international development (Central Asia in particular), gender and feminist economics, labour and work, the welfare state and social policy, agro-industrial policy and innovation, food systems, global value chains and research methods in Economics.

Abstract:

Neoliberal austerity has hit hard for people of colour and women living in deprived urban spaces, where we observe unprecedented levels of inequality in access to care and food. In this context, volunteer and community services (VCSs) have become fundamental to compensating for the lack of urban public services that support human needs. This talk deploys a social reproduction framework to analyse the andro-white marketization of VCSs occurring in the care and food solidarity practices in London. It untangles the racialised, class and gendered forms of material exploitation and cultural domination exercised on and through VCSs circuits operating in marginal communities. Along these lines, it reflects on the transformational limits of the neoliberal care system in supporting the social reproduction of unequal cities.