A short life of the author
Leopoldina Fortunati (b. 1949) is an Italian sociologist and feminist theorist. She is a professor at the University of Udine and has been involved in Italian Autonomist and feminist movements since the 1970s.
Life and Career
L’arcano della riproduzione (The Arcane of Reproduction, 1981, translated into English 1995) argues that reproductive labor — housework, childbearing, emotional care — is not outside capitalist production but essential to it: it produces and reproduces labor power, the commodity without which capitalism cannot function. The book is a rigorous Marxist analysis that extends Marx’s own categories to the domestic sphere.
Fortunati was associated with the Wages for Housework campaign, alongside Silvia Federici and Mariarosa Dalla Costa. Her later work has focused on communication technology and the body in the digital age.
Major Works and Themes
Fortunati writes about reproductive labor, feminist economics, and the relationship between bodies and technology. Her work is essential reading for anyone interested in the political economy of care.
Key Works
- The Arcane of Reproduction (1981)
Collecting Fortunati
The English translation (Autonomedia, 1995) is the most accessible edition and brings $20–$50. Italian originals are rare. Fortunati continues to publish.