Queer Political Economy

Abstract

This chapter outlines the scholarly debate and theoretical architecture that underpin the rest of the book. In recent years, queer theory has come under fire for being outdated, even redundant, on the grounds that its interest in the fluidity of identity comes at the expense of political economic analysis. Contesting such claims, the chapter contends that queer theory is well suited to the study of global capitalism when pursued as a project that is both feminist and historical in approach. To this end, the author brings together the insights of Michel Foucault and Silvia Federici to develop a new framework for analyzing the intersections and contradictions between capitalism and sexuality. The chapter then explicates this framework through discussion of sex work as a particularly interesting and important site for applying the tools of queer political economy.