Marxist View of families and households

• What role does the family play according to traditional Marxists?

  To maintain capitalism to serve the interests of the bourgeoisie.
• What does the functionalist and the Marxist view of the family have in common?

  They acknowledge the family functions in order to maintain the current constitution of society, socialising children and dictating our views and beliefs.

  The difference is that Marxists disagree with how society is constituted, and that it is based on class inequality to benefit the rich minority.
• Engles and the inheritance of wealth:

  • The family has clear economic functions for capitalism, ensuring that wealth remains in the hands of the bourgeoisie.
  • Family relations and the ability to transfer wealth to your children ensure that even when a rich person dies, their children receive their wealth.
• How does Engles propose the inheritance of wealth began?

  Due to the emergence of capitalism, a system of private ownership, the bourgeoisie began looking for ways to create intergenerational wealth. Because of this, men needed to confirm weather or not a child was theirs, leading to the creation of a monogamous nuclear society. This ultimately means that wealth can be passed on from one generation to the next.
• What is Zaretsky's cushioning effect?

  A variation of Parsons 'warm bath theory', it proposes that the family acts as a relief from social stress and tension.

  Family life offered proletariat men a space where they were the boss, which is beneficial for capitalism as it meant they could then tolerate the frustration of being exploited at work.

  This also prevents a revolution because a person with dependants is less likely to rebel or go on strike as they aren't the only one who will be affected by the loss of income.
• Zaretsky: The family as a unit of consumption

  The family serves as a unit of consumption because business owners need to sell their workers goods for a profit (as well as keeping wages low).

  The family requires necessities such as food, water and clothing.

  Contemporary theorists like Delphy also identify the 'false needs' families are convinced to buy:

  1. 'Keeping up with the Jones's mentality'. Families must keep up with the goods their counterparts buy.
  2. Children have pester power, so capitalist advertisement is used to target them to convince their parents to buy things.
• Weakness😭:

  Interactionists state Marxists ignore the meanings families have for individuals.

  They've been criticised for overemphasizing how the family is shaped to fit the needs of capitalism, with little research to weather or not members of families actually do have this relationship with capitalism.
• Weakness😭:

  Despite some experiments with communal living and alternate household structures after the Russian revolution, people have continued to live in family groups in communist countries as well.
• Weakness😭:

  Zaretsky's theory is outdated, assuming all workers are male and that there is only one worker in the family. It also doesn't account for the vast family diversity seen in the modern day.
• Weakness😭:

  The Marxist view has an over-socialised view of humans, without considering how proletariat parents and their children may resist this process.
• Weakness😭:

  The Marxist view has been criticised for its overly negative view of the family, ignoring how some people may find satisfaction in family life.