marxist perspective on family

• economic base


  comprises of forces and relations of production which people insert themselves to produce the necessities of life
• superstructure


  culture, institutions, political power, structures, roles, rituals and state
• ideological state apparatus


  social institutions serving to transmit values of the state
• marxist view of family


  families act and are created to support and reinforce capitalism

  nuclear family is concerned with social control by teaching members to submit to the capitalist class
• 4 functions of the family


  inheritance of wealth

  cushioning effect

  unit of consumption

  socialistion
• inheritance of wealth - engels 


  monogamous isolated nuclear family ensures child is biologically the fathers = wealth stays in family instead of spread to wider community

  engels saw this as ' world historical defeat of the female sex ' as it brought her under control of men and turned her into a ' mere instrument for production of children '
• cushioning effect - zaretsky 


  family acts as cushion to soften anger of working class exploitation preventing a revolution

  family allows man to feel in control and powerful at home

  ? romanticised from view of man
• unit of consumption - zaretsky


  harness pester power of children

  families targeted by advertisers

  workers paid less than amount charged for products they created
• socialisation - althusser


  family acts to socialise children into capitalist system and accepting capitalist exploitation

  next generation accept ruling class ideology as normal

  maintains false class consciousness
• other functions of the family - marxism


  reproduces next generation of workers for free

  women are reserve army of labour e.g., WW1
• evaluation of marxist views of family - pros

  explains dark side of the family

  acknowledges negatives of nuclear famil
• evaluation of marxist view of family - cons


  ignores family diversity

  deterministic

  ignores positive effects of family

  no link between emergence of nuclear family and capitalism

  based on views of white men
• 3 functions of nuclear family

  reflects wider inequalities in society

  supports capitalistic values

  exploits and oppresses members