Marxist Perspective on the Family Flashcards
What are the several functions that Marxists see the family as fulfilling?
- Inheritance of property
- Ideology functions
- Unit of consumption
What is a key factor for Marxists in determining the shape social institutions and link it to modern society?
- The mode of production, who owns and controls the productive forces (land, property, tools etc)
- In modern society, it’s the capitalist class that owns and controls the means of productions. As the mode of productions evolves, so too does the family
How to Marxists describe early society?
- They called the earliest, classless society, ‘primitive communism’, where there was no private poverty. Instead, all members of society owns the means of production
- At this stage of social development, there was no family. Engels called this the ‘promiscuous tribe’, where there were no restrictions on sexual relationships
What has the developed forces of production led to?
- As the forces of production developed, wealth increased. This led to private property, as a class of men emerged who could secure control of the means of production.
- This change brought about the patriarchal monogamous nuclear family.
Why is monogamy essential in society now?
In Engels’ view, monogamy become essential due to the inheritance of private property. Men had to be sure of the paternity of their children to ensure that they could pass property to their legitimate sons (and solidify their legacy)
What is the impact of the monogamous nuclear family on women?
Engels argues that the rise of the monogamous nuclear family represented a ‘world historical defeat of female sex.’ As it brought the woman’s sexuality under male control and turned her into ‘a mere instrument for the production of children’
How do Marxists argue that women will achieve liberation?
- Marxists argue only with the overthrow of capitalism and private ownership will women achieve liberation from patriarchal society.
- A classless society will be established, where means of production is owned collectively, and there’s no need for a patriarchal family as there’s no transmitting private property down generations
Give evidence from an article for the effects of private property in modern society
- An article from 2020 highlights how housing prices is rising faster than wages, so buyers increasingly rely on family wealth.
- ‘For almost 4 decades, property prices have increased at a much faster rate than wages.’
- ’ In a city, such as Sydney, where house prices have approximately doubled over the past decade.’
- ‘The millennial generation… find themselves without any real prospects of achieving a middle class existence.’
Outline how the family performs ideological functions to fulfil capitalism
Marxists argue that the family established ideas that justify inequality and maintain capitalism by persuading people to accept it as fair and natural
Describe how the family socialise their children into capitalism
The family socialises children into the idea that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable. Parental (paternal) power accustoms them to someone (man) in charge which prepares them for a working life answering to capitalist employers
Describe how the family acts as a ‘haven’
Eli Zaretsky (1976) argues the family offers a ‘haven’ from the exploitative world of capitalism outside, where workers can have a private life. However, Zaretsky argues this is an illusion, family cannot meet its members needs e.g. it’s based on the domestic servitude of women
How does capitalism exploit the labour of the workers?
By making profits by selling the products of their labour for more than it pays them to produce these commodities
How does the family generate profits for capitalism as a unit of consumption?
The family generates profits for capitalists as it is an important market for the sale of consumer goods:
- Advertisers urge families to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ by consuming all the latest products
- Media targets children, who use ‘pester power’ to persuade parents to spend more
- Children who lack the latest clothes or gadgets are mocked by their peers
What are criticisms of the Marxist perspective?
- They tend to assume that the nuclear family is dominant in capitalist society, ignoring the variety of family structures found in society.
- Feminists argue that the emphasise on class and capitalism underestimates importance of gender inequalities within the family. In the feminist view, these are more fundamental than class inequalities and the family serves men, not capitalism
- Functionalists argue Marxists ignore benefits that the family provides
