Entrepreneurial reproductive labor as alternative economic practice: The ambivalent discourse of seasonal consignment sales

Abstract

Our article considers the possibilities and perils co-existing within entrepreneurial reproductive labor, a context easily dismissed as devoid of alternative economic possibilities due to its adherence to neoliberal ideals. Seasonal consignment sales involving the communal processing and reselling of used children’s goods provide a particularly compelling case of economic innovations drawing upon entrepreneurial reproductive labor. Rather than resting at an easy conclusion that seasonal consignment sales practices are determined by neoliberalism, thus precluding alternatives to capitalism, we highlight their ambivalences. Industry leaders’ authoritative discourses—centering on languages of entrepreneurialism and self-regulation—maintain a gendered division of labor, promote a neoliberal version of ‘mompreneurship’, and advocate moralized consumption, care, and labor practices. At the same time, we argue that seasonal consignment sales provide glimpses of alternative structures of value creation outside of the wage relationship. In highlighting the case of seasonal consignment sales, our study contributes critical consideration of the contested status of entrepreneurial reproductive labor within alternatives to capitalism.