Marxist And The Family Flashcards
What does Marxist say about family ?
Family is a negative institution as contributes to exploitative capitalism society/system
Theories for Marxism ?
- Friedrich Engles
- Eli Zaretsky
- David Cooper
What are the three ways according to Zaretsky family mantains capitalism ?
- the family as refuge
- reproductive of labour force
- unit of consumption
What is family as refuge according to Zaretsky?
Work become alienating so workers have little control over work and unable to achieve real satisfaction so family life seen as refuge from pressure of work and workers could control lives
However what does Zaretsky say about family as refuge is ?
Zaretsky say this is an illusion as family is unable to overcome the effects of capitalism unless capitalism is abolished
What is reproduction of labour force according to Zaretsky?
Women reproduce and bring up children which capitalist employers benifit from unpaid domestic labour as next generation of worker brought up with no expense
What is unit of consumption according to Zaretsky ?
Buying products of capitalist and allowing capitalist to continue to make profit from businesses
What does David Cooper argue about the family ?
Family relationship reflects property relationship of capitalist as individuals develop a sense of their own partners and children which restricts ability for individual to develop
What does David cooper see the family as ?
Ideological conditioning device
What is ideological conditioning , according to David Cooper ?
Family indoctrinates children to accept capitalist society
What society do we live in according to David Cooper ?
Live in unequal and hierarchical society where those higher up control those lower
What does family do according to David cooper ?
- Children learn to submit to capitalism ideology , those at bottom must accept position and be obedient to them
- family to parents, adults to employers
- children socialised to accept place
Family has developed in evolutionary way according to Engels why ?
In past no restrictions on sexual behaviors and anyone had sexual with anyone as no restrictions
In past no restrictions on sexual behaviors and anyone had sexual with anyone as no restrictions, what is this referred as according to Engels ?
Promiscuous horde
As society become more complex and more restrictions place what did society go from to According to Engels ?
Went from polygony to monogamy
Engels , due to evolution of monogamy what did this mean ?
Evolution of monogamy due to private property, property held down by males and passed to male heirs
What did monogamy ensure to Engels ?
Wealth and property go the rightful heir and stays within the family and does not reproduce inequality
Why did monogamy according to Engels reproduce inequality
Children of rich grow on wealth and poor remain poor so wealth can be for bourgeoisie more than proletariat as wealth passed down to same social class
What was women I earlier society and what happened after according to Engels ?
Earliest society women held power but men took control and become first property owners so women were seen as chattels
What was women seen as Chattels according to Engels ?
Women possessive of men and provide husband with heirs and raise them to adulthood
What example is used for Engels for communist society ?
Israeli Kibbutz if all children raised by community no individual passing down wealth will be shared (communist society )
What is the Evaluation of Engels ?
- weak evidence : Engels idea of evolution considered weak evidence as many simple societies that have little interest in private property but still practise monogamous
- most same sex relationship sre monogamous but not a legitimate biological hier so capitalist is not needed for monogamy still pursue it
- does Engels theory explain unregulated sexual behavior among the rich ? celebrities scandals around cheating or multiple partners with children so Engels incorrect as does not apply to them to preserve wealth
What is the overall evaluation if Marx
- assumes individual are passive : assumes individual personal lives centred on economic forces of capitalism but ignores how people can make choices on own lives as many choose to reject nuclear family life
- ignore family diversity :
Marx can be seen as outdated as focus on nuclear family than alternative little on diversity - over focused on class :
Fails to consider other division in society:
Ethnicity, gender and sexuality - ethnocentric:
Focused on western societies and little on nature of family in other parts of world
