Rodrigo Steimberg
steimbergr@gmail.com Universidad Nacional de Quilmes / Conicet, Argentina
Tamara Seiffer
seiffertamara@gmail.com Universidad Nacional de Quilmes / Conicet, Argentina
Abstract:
This article addresses how intimate life is viewed in capitalist societies. Drawing on a unitary approach posed by the critique of political economy, we argue that intimate life adopts a social form resulting from seeing ourselves as personifying reified social relations. Several studies have shown that labor force is reproduced in the capitalist family. In that sense, intimate life has a social dimension. However, it is often presented as a dimension of individual freedom, detached from its historical mandate. We argue that the apparent contradiction between social and intimate life is the result of a form of organization where personal ties hold social forces beyond our control. We analyze human individuation as labor-mediated social metabolism, we examine specifically capitalist individuality to conclude that intimate life is a form of production of free individuality.
Keywords: intimate life, personal freedom, capitalist modes of production, critique of political economy, alienation, subjectivity.
