Marxist theories of the nuclear family

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  • Created by: jesskeayy
  • Created on: 23-04-17 18:04
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  • Marxist theories of the nuclear family
    • Nuclear family functions
      • Helps to maintain class inequality
      • Allows men to relieve their frustrations from the workplace
      • Inheritance
      • Socialisation of the children to accept inequality
      • Providing the next labour force
      • A source of capitalist profit
    • NUCLEAR FAMILY IS NOT UNDER THREAT
      • Capitalism has not decreased, therefore the nuclear family is the most common family form
      • There has been a decline in divorce rates, suggesting the nuclear family is still commonly found
        • There has also been an increase in remarriage rates and the introduction of the same-sex marriage legislation
      • Women are still controlled and exploited in society, the nuclear family being the main source of oppression
    • ENGELS
      • Monogamy became essential for males to be certain of the paternity of their children, to ensure that they can leave inheritance behind.
      • Women are treated as 'a mere instrument for the production of children'
    • ALTHUSSER
      • Children are socialised to accept the idea that hierarchy and inequality are inevitable
      • Families teach children capitalist norms and values, through the acceptance that their father is dominant in the household
        • They learn that people have power and they have none
    • ZARETSKY
      • The family is an illusion of safety
        • The family is the place working class males feel they can relieve the frustrations they face from humiliation in the workplace
          • The working class are less likely to go on strike, because they need their job to keep the power within their household
        • 'Illusion of safety' is the idea that whilst the family soothe away stresses from the workplace, they must return to work to provide for them
    • WILKINSON
      • Working class men take out their stresses on the family through domestic violence
      • The family is a unit of consumption, it buys the products that capitalism produces to support its economic system
        • Supported by the media e.g. pester power of adveritsing
      • Family prepares children for a life in employment e.g. LONG SHADOW OF WORK
    • Criticisms of Marxist theories of the family
      • Ignores the variety and diversity of family life
      • Only looks at the negatives of the family life
        • FUNCTIONALIST
          • Assumes capitalism is bad for us and ignores the biological explanations as to why family units form
      • Ignores the real benefits and positive role models the family unit provides

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