Marxist Theories On The Family Flashcards
Is Marxist a conflict or consensus theory?
Conflict theory
Why is Marxist a conflict theory ?
-views all institutions as helping to maintain class inequality and capitalism
Which institutions does Marxist refer to helping maintain class inequality and capitalism ?
Education system
The media
Religion
The state
What do Marxist believe the function of the family is?
functions of family
-performed solely for the benefit of the capitalist system
What does Marxist view contrast with?
contrasts sharply w/
-functionalist view
that family benefits both society as a whole and the individual members of the family
Two marxist sociologists are:
Engels
Zaretsky
Althusser and Poulantzas: the ideological role of the family
What does Engels argue about?
The origin of family
What does Zaretsky argue about?
How the family benefits capitalism
Engels
-argued that the need for the family arose when societies started to value private property
How did private properties lead to a rise in monogamy?
w/ rise of private property an
-organised system of inheritance became necessary
-fathers needed to know who their offspring were in order to pass their property down the line
-
Monogamy originated due to and led to?
-need to know offspring to pass down property
-led to marriages between man and women and children born
How is Engel’s theory marxist?
Family serves the interest of the economy
-in this case creation of OWNERSHIP OF PROPERTY
-while subjecting women to unequal power relations in the home
Evaluation of Marxist Engel’s theory
suffers from temporal validity
-modern rs suggests that Engels’ interpretation of development of families are HISTORICALLY inaccurate
Evidence for Engel theory bein inaccurate
monogamous marriage and nuclear family
-often found in hunter-gatherer group
-since humans have spent a vast majority of their existence as hunter-gatherers
-families having emerged as a response to private property is unlikely
Evaluation
Functionalist views on (marxist) Engel’s views
Parsons would reject this view of development of family
-rather than family being a vehicle to pass down inherited wealth, the family plays an important role in socialising the young and stabilising adult personalities
-division of labour in families reflects the natural expressive role of mother and more instrumental providing ole of father
Zaretsky
suggest that the family serves capitalism by offering emotional security form the oppressive world of work, thus allowing such oppression to continue
HOWEVER
-it really only provides emotional warmth to encourage its members to continue to live another day under the harsh realities of capitalism
Evaluation for Zaretsky
Liberal feminist
Lib-feminist:
Jennifer Somerville
-argues that Zaretsky exaggerates the importance of the family as a refuge from life in capitalist society
-Zaretsky underestimates the extent of cruelty, violence and incest w/ in families
-Zaretsky ignores the fact that mots w.c women had to take paid work in order for the family yo survive, relatively few stayed at home as housewives.
What does Althusser and Poulantzas argue about?
The ideological role of the family
Althusser and Poulantzas:
family can be seen serving functions of an ideological state apparatus by socialising both
PRO-CAPITALIST IDEOLOGY and its own familiar ideology
in order to maintain such family patterns over time
Althusser and Poulantzas evidence
The family socialises its members into accepting gender roles
-into accepting that it is ‘natural for men and women to get married
-and engage in separate roles and jobs in the home:
AN ATTITUDE THAT IS PASSED DOWN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION
Evaluation
Feminists view on Althusser and Poulantzas
Feminists argue that A & P ignore the fact that:
-such a family ideology supports patriarchy since it suggests that men and women should have diff. roles in family and society
-roles that lead to subordination of women to men
Evaluation
Functionalists view on Althusser and Poulantzas
reject vie that the family socialises childrenin to capitalism ideology
- THE FAMILY ACTUALLY ENABLES CHILDREN TO INTERNALISE THE CULTURE OF SOCIETY TO ENABLE THEM TO BECOME EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING ADULTS
Overall evaluation
-marxist views of the family follow logically Marxist theory
If, for example, family provides emotional support for workers, then this helps them to accept the injustices of the capitalist system
-This makes sense if capitalism is seen as essentially injust
MANY sociologists reject this view of capitalism and Marxist views on family too
Overall evaluation
Feminists
argue that Marxist emphasis on social class and capitalism underestimates importance of gender inequalities within the family.,
For feminis the family primarily serves
