Marxism - families and households

• Like Functionalists, Marxists view the family as performing essential functions for modern industrial society.
• The difference between Functionalist and Marxist views is that Marxists argue that the family benefits the bourgeoisie minority and the economy, but disadvantages the proletariat majority.
• Engels (1884) said that the family had an economic function of keeping wealth within the bourgeoisie by passing it on to the next generation as inheritance.
• Zaretsky (1976) argued that the family is one place in society where the proletariat can have power and control. This relieves some of the frustration workers feel about their low status, which helps them to accept their oppression and exploitation as workers.
• In capitalist society, a woman's role as 'housewife' of the family means workers are cared for and healthy. This makes them more productive - a great benefit that the capitalist class get for free.
• The family household is a unit with the desire to buy goods produced by capitalist industry. The family is a unit of consumption.
• The family buys goods for more than they cost to produce and the bourgeoisie get the profit.
• Functionalists and Marxists both see the family as having a key role in society in reproducing social structure and order. The key sociological debate between them is whether this is positive or negative and who benefits.