Marxist theories of the family

Althusser

He argued that there are two ways for the bourgeoisie to control people in society.

1: Using force/ threatening to use force through the police or army. Institutions that control people through force- RSA (repressive state apparatus)- a tool by the Government to control people by force.

2: Another way to control people is to shape what they think. Institutions that spread ideology and make us see capitalism as fair, natural and unchangeable are called- Ideological State apparatuses (ISA)

ISAs- family, education and media- one way the family does this is by socialising children into the idea that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable.

Althusser- evaluation

- Reductionist view of the family

- Ignores other factors, such as; intersectionality, ethnicity and gender.

Engles- Inheritance of property

The rise of the monogamous nuclear family represented a 'world historical defeat of the female sex'. This was because it brought the woman's sexuality under male control and turned her into a mere instrument for the production of children.

Women- confined to the home and excluded from the workplace. Husband was the bourgeois and the wife was the proletariat.

Engels- evaluation

Research carried out since Engels work shows that his work is factually incorrect, for e.g. monogamy and nuclear families are found in non-capitalist societies. So, Engels assertion that nuclear families develop alongside capitalism does not match the evidence.

Hochschild- Family is being commodified

Hochschild follows Marx in arguing that in capitalism almost every aspect of social life is commodified- turned into something that can be bought and sold.

- Capitalism seeks profit wherever it can and expands into new areas when profits cannot be raised in existing markets.

- Emotional life has increasingly become a commodity- this means that things that used to be thought as private and personal and distinct from economic life have become just another commodity to buy and sell.

Zaretsky: family is a unit of consumption

The family has become a vital unit of consumption. The family consumes the products of capitalism and this allows the bourgeoisie to continue producing surplus value.

- Capitalism exploits the labour of workers, making a profit by selling the products of their labour from more than it pays them to produce these commodities.

Zaretsky: cushions alienation

The private life of the family provided opportunities for satisfactions that were unavailable outside the walls of the home.

- The family artificially separates and isolates personal life from other aspects of life. It might cushion the effects of capitalism but it perpetuates the system and cannot compensate for the general alienation provided by a society.

Zaretsky: Reproduces workforce

The Capitalist system is based upon the domestic labour of housewives who reproduce for future generations of workers. Women produce an obedient and future workforce for capitalist society for the bourgeois to exploit through unequal housework and inequality in the family.

Zaretsky: Evaluation of Marxist views of the family

Criticisms- feminist approach:

- Jennifer Sommerville- argued that Zaretsky, even after the qualifications he makes, exaggerates the importance of the family as a refuge from life in capitalist society.

- According to Sommerville, during the early stages of capitalism most working-class women had to take paid work in order for the family to survive financially- relatively few stayed at home as full-time housewives and mothers.

What is the general Marxist view of the family?

Marxists believe that capitalism exploits and alienates the proletariat. The families maintain capitalism and reinforces class inequalities.