marxism

• marxist perspective of family

  engels (1884)

  • nuclear families exist so wealth can be passed down - needed monogamy to stop confusion of whose son the money goes to (to prevent primitive communism)
  • no monogamy / promiscuous horde was illegitimate
  • women = chattels (owned), useful for having sons, trapped in marriage
• marxist perspective of family

  zaretsky 

  • capitalist system = based off housewives domestic labour (women create safe space for husband to destress = safe haven preventing revolution), reproduces next generation of workers, teaching them to be subservient 
  • family consumes capitalist products by the media advertising and targeting children for false needs to encourage consumerism (pester power)
• marxist perspective of family

  Evaluation 

  strengths

  • true that family acts as a capitalist unit to prop up capitalism
  • engels paved the way for other theories eg marxism and feminism

  weaknesses

  • economically deterministic 
  • not all families = nuclear and outdated, ignores family diversity
  • ignores role of individuals shaping society
  • patriarchal, ignores women who can’t own anything (Ansley + Benston)
• nuclear family = unit of consumtion