Abstract
This paper analyzes changes in the nature of household-based labor and the relationship between those changes and recent economic crises. I point out that the recessions of the 1970s and 1980s were considerably different than that of the 1930s mainly because, in contrast to earlier periods, consumer demand did not slacken. In spite of falling real wages and rising unemployment, the demand for goods and services continually increased. I argue that changes in the ordinary activities of working-class women were crucial in shoring up consumer demand and thus these changes are central to the operation of the political economy itself

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