Marxism

Marxist theory

ruling class has all the power and money so they exploit the WC

society maintains class inequality and maintain capitalism

class conflict

the 2 classes want different things, the ruling class wants the power and money for themselves

the WC wants to spread it out

since RC is in power, they manipulate the WC to stay under them and keep society the way it is

superstructure of society

all institutions do their job to protect capitalism

as family is a structure, Marxists argue the role of the family is to benefit capitalism

inheritance of property

keeps the rich rich by keeping their assets within the family

if there’s no family, the money is shared out with WC which is why it’s important for them to have heirs

primitive communism

no private property, everyone owned everything - no family unit promiscuous tribe - no restriction on sexual relationships

nuclear family

made as production developed and wealth increased, so did private property with upper class men controlling the wealth

Engels

rising nuclear family caused defeat of the female sex as they became just machines to produce children so they weren’t being reflected by their husbands

the only way to fix this is to overthrow capitalism and free women from their oppression

socialisation

the family socialised children into supporting capitalism

leaches them to not question hierarchy and their place in it which gets them into the routine of accepting authority

Zaretsky

family offers a haven from harsh reality to make them not see the problem in it

unit of consumption

the family buys loads of expensive stuff like cars as they want to ‘keep up with the Jones’ which makes money for the capitalists and ruling class keeps their power

criticism

it assumes all families are nuclear therefore it ignores the other family types

feminists

say Marxists overlook women’s oppression, focusing on the class

functionalists

say this is too negative and ignoring the benefits for the family members