Kathi Weeks is an American scholar, Marxist feminist and

anti-work Critique of work or critique of labour is the critique of, or wish to abolish, Work (human activity), work ''as such'', and to critique what the critics of works deem wage slavery. Critique of work can be Existentialism, existential, and focus ...

theorist. She is best known for ''The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics and Postwork Imaginaries'', published in 2011 by

Duke University Press Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 ...

Biography

She holds a PhD from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, and is currently a professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. There, she was from 2012 to 2015 the Director of Graduate Studies in Women, and in 2018 the Director of Graduate Studies in the Program In Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies. In 1998 she published ''Constituting Feminist Subjects'', and in 2000 she co-edited with

Michael Hardt Michael Hardt (born 1960) is an American political philosopher and literary theorist. Hardt is best known for his 2000 book ''Empire'', which was co-written with Antonio Negri. Hardt and Negri suggest that several forces which they see as do ...

the volume ''The Jameson Reader'', on cultural theorist

Fredric Jameson Fredric Ruff Jameson (April 14, 1934 – September 22, 2024) was an American literary critic, philosopher and Marxist political theorist. He was best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends, particularly his analysis of postmode ...

. She gained prominence with the publication in 2011 of ''The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics and Postwork Imaginaries''. The book uses Marxist social reproduction theory, including

Wages for Housework A wage is payment made by an employer to an employee for work done in a specific period of time. Some examples of wage payments include compensatory payments such as ''minimum wage'', ''prevailing wage'', and ''yearly bonuses,'' and remunera ...

and

autonomist Autonomism or ''autonomismo'', also known as autonomist Marxism or autonomous Marxism, is an anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose ...

literature, to question that work is necessarily a social good. She argues in favor of a

post-work society In futurology, political science, and science fiction, a post-work society is a society in which the nature of work has been radically transformed and traditional employment has largely become obsolete due to technological progress. Some post- ...

where people do not see their creativity or political agency bound by employment relations. This includes a defense of a

universal basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive a minimum income in the form of an unconditional transfer payment, i.e., without a means test or need to perform Work (hu ...

on Marxist feminist grounds.

Books

As author

*''Constituting Feminist Subjects'' (Cornell University Press, 1998). Re-published in 2018 by Verso Books. *''The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics and Postwork Imaginaries'' (Duke University Press, 2011).

As editor

*''The Jameson Reader'' (with

) (Blackwell, 2000).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weeks, Kathi Marxist feminists American gender studies academics American political philosophers Critics of work and the work ethic American social philosophers 21st-century American academics 21st-century American essayists 21st-century American philosophers Universal basic income writers Duke University staff Year of birth missing (living people) Living people