(Re)productivity: a category for the critical analysis of bioeconomic approaches

Serving as a mediating category and calling for sustainable development toward a reinvention of what is understood to be “economic,” the category of (re)productivity overcomes the divisive structure of modern capitalist economies. (Re)productivity can be understood as a socio-ecological category that builds on feminist economic criticism and critical approaches to ecological economics. The thesis of this article is that only with the help of the category of (re)productivity can bioeconomy truly be understood as a sustainable economic system: There can be no sustainable bioeconomy based on traditional economic approaches. (Re)productivity also recognizes “natural productivity”–that is, the living forces and creative abilities of nature as they are understood in terms of their economic significance at both the beginning and the end of the (re)production process. Indeed, nature always constitutes materialized social relations to nature. For a sustainable economy, this means that nature must be co-created in such a way that future generations retain options when it comes to their own economic activity and living a good life. In this article, we further systematize these ideas. To this end, the concept of bioeconomy as defined by the German government (as a frontrunner to the definition and propagation of the concept) is briefly outlined to then introduce the notion of (re)productivity as an analytical and shaping category. This is followed by a discussion of the concept of “nature” from the perspective of a sustainable (re)productive economy. The conclusion returns to the thesis and postulates precaution as a principle of economic action.