Social and Solidarity Economy in Elder Care

The concept of social reproduction consists of the words society and reproduction. Breaking down the terms, it is found that by the term society is meant the set of people who live together in a place or in a historical period and by the term reproduction, the biological process by which each new organism reproduces, but also the process that describes the preservation and continuation of social structures, relationships and systems.

In the following years, as the reproduction of labor power, and by extension the theory of social reproduction, had not been sufficiently developed, it is analyzed by various currents of feminism by analogy with Marx's economic reproduction, highlighting the role of workers and the wider environment in the capitalist productive process and in the social reproductive process.

The object of study and the aim of the following chapter is the analysis of social reproduction as a concept and theory, but also as an activity. In addition, the historical conceptual expansion of the term social reproduction is presented, which is connected and influenced by the current conditions of each historical period. Reference is also made to the existing crisis that social reproduction is subject to and how the members of society are affected. Finally, the chapter concludes with the addition of the concept of care, which, while distinct from social reproduction, is at the same time connected to it.