Exploitation, patriarchy and petty commodity production: class, gender and neocolonialism in rural eastern Uganda

Abstract

Processes of gendered exploitation within villages are integral to world-historical capitalism. Analysing them informs pathways to change. This article illustrates three forms of ‘everyday exploitation’: ‘direct’ exploitation of labour by petty capital, ‘indirect’ exploitation through petty commodity production, and the ‘triple exploitation’ of labouring class women through the interplay of capitalism and patriarchy. This is done through detailed data on class, gender and generational relations within agriculture and brickmaking in an Ugandan village facing a ‘neo-colonial absence’ of public services. Increasing out-migration, meanwhile, underlines a growing crisis of simple reproduction amid pauperising petty commodity production and scarce wage-labour.