Transcript Marxist Perspectives on the Family

Marxist Perspectives on the
Family
An introduction to Marxism and
family sociology
• Marx did not write
much about the
family but his friend
Frederick Engels
wrote
“The Origin of the
Family, Private
Property and the
State “ in 1884
• Engels took an evolutionary view of
the family.
• As the mode of production
changed through history so did
the family.
Mode of production is the way in
which economic production
happens in society.
• At the start of human development Engels said
there was a stage of primitive communism.
Property was owned collectively and there was no
private family.
• This was an era of sexual freedom and
promiscuity. No rules limited sexual relationships.
Society itself was the family.
HOWEVER................................
Anthroloplogists have pointed out that the nuclear
family existed before capitalism. There are many
tribal groups in places like the Rainforest and
many of them have a family group such as the
Baka people who have a custom of one man
having one wife. They are hunter/gatherers and do
not ‘own’ property in the same way as people in a
Capitalist system.
There is no promiscuity.............
• Engels said that with the start of ownership of
private property came the need for restrictions on
sexual activity because people needed to know who
their heir was.
• Over time Engels claimed that we arrived at the
monogamous nuclear family model of modern society.
• Engel’s claimed that the nuclear family fulfils certain
requirements of capitalism
• Capitalism requires monogamous marriage to solve
the problem of property inheritance.
• Men had to be certain of who were their heirs and
that they were legitimate heirs.
• Men therefore needed to control women
through the monogamous family.
Eli Zaretsky is a modern Marxist writer and claims that society
creates the “illusion” that family private life in separate from the
economy.
Zaretsky claims that the family cushions workers from the brutal
realities of capitalism and in this way helps perpetuate capitalism.
Capitalism is also “propped up” by the domestic labour of housewives
who reproduce the future labour force
The family is also an important consumer of the products of capitalism
Zaretsky therefore concludes that the family is an institution that is
in reality very closely linked to the economy and the perpetuation of
capitalism
The family socialises children – thereby reproducing both
labour power and an acceptance of capitalism (false
consciousness).
Women’s domestic work is unpaid which benefits capitalism.
The family acts as a safety valve for the stresses and
frustrations of working class men.
• The Marxist view ignores family diversity. It sees
the nuclear family as being simply determined by
the economy.