SOCIAL REPRODUCTION AS INVESTMENT: RETHINKING HUMAN CAPITAL THEORY IN EDUCATION POLICY

Abstract

Human capital theory has long positioned education as a strategic investment in knowledge, skills, productivity, and economic growth. However, its dominant focus on individual choice and post-birth investment provides an incomplete account of the social conditions that make human capital formation possible in the first place. This paper reconsiders human capital theory by examining social reproduction as a foundational form of investment in education and human development. Using a library research approach with a descriptive-analytical and conceptual synthesis method, this study brings together perspectives on human capital, education policy, social reproduction, fertility, cultural change, and demographic transformation. The analysis suggests that social reproduction encompasses material, social, cultural, and emotional investments that enable new generations to emerge, develop, and participate in education. At the same time, changing cultural norms and expanding social obligations may increase the costs of reproduction and influence fertility decisions, thereby affecting the future population of school-age children and the sustainability of educational institutions. Based on this synthesis, the paper proposes a Social Reproductive Investment Theory of Human Capital, which conceptualizes human capital formation as an intergenerational process beginning with social reproduction and extending through education. This framework broadens human capital theory by integrating demographic, cultural, and social conditions into education policy analysis