marxist view on the family Flashcards
How do marxists view the family?
Marxists see families as essentially a conservative institution that helps to preserve capitalism.
Explain Engels view on the family.
People started more monogamous relationships where father can be certain of their property by their biological children. This meant that womens sexulity was controlled and they became glorified prostitutes because a man can only be certain his air is his if his wife’s sexual behaviour is controlled.
Engels argued that family had a clear economic function for capitalism, by ensuring that wealth remained in the hands of the bourgeoisie.
Family relations, based on clear legal contracts, facilitate inheritance and therefore when rich people die it is their children who keep hold of their wealth.
What did zaretsky argue about the family?
An interesting variation on Parsons’ warm bath theory, Zaretsky argued that family life gave proletarian men something they could control and a space where they could be the “boss”. This provided a clear function for capitalism because it meant that workers would tolerate the powerlessness and frustration of being exploited at work because they had this private domain where they were “king of the castle” and could take out their stress and frustrations.
This again ties in with Fran Ansley’s Marxist-feminist perspective of women being the “takers of shit”.
what are the Criticisms on Engels theory on the family?
> little evidence that the “promiscuous horde” existed before the ownership of properties.
monogamous relationships do not stop people from committing adultery.
Criticisms on zaretsky theory on the family
Zaretsky theory is clearly outdated: it assumes the worker is male and that there is only one worker in the family. It also ignores the other benefits that all family members may get from family life: the emotional support, comfort and generally the positive benefits.
Althusser on the family
ideological state of apparatus= utilized by the ruling class to ensure obedience of the working class. >ideas on how to raised children and norms and values were passed down from the ruling class and the expectation of males and females in society > these ideas were them policed by other social institutions like education and would face consequences if they don't conform.
Althusser critics
> based on assumptions not theoretical evidence
>in lower classes subcultural values are stronger than and people are more influenced by them than the ruling classes.
What is the correspondence principle
The Marxist idea that the norms and values pupils learn in school prepare them for their future exploitation at work.
