Marxists
A mind map to show all you need to know about Marxists for Unit 1 AS sociology
- Created by: Samuel Galeckyj
- Created on: 11-05-13 16:51
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- MARXISTS
- PERSPECTIVES
- Marxists see society as based on an unequal conflict between two social classes
- The working class
- The capitalist class
- The functions of the family are performed purely for the benefit of the capitalist system
- Marxists see all societies institutions, such as the educational system, media, religion and the state; along with the family helping to maintain class inequalities and capitalism
- Marxists see society as based on an unequal conflict between two social classes
- INHERITANCE OF PROPERTY
- I modern society, it is the capitalist class that owns and controls these means of production
- The key factor, according to Marxists, in shaping society is the mode of production who controls and owns societies productive forces (tools, machinery, raw materials, land and labour
- As the mode of production evolves, so does the family
- Marx called the earliest, classless society "primitive communism"
- All members of society owned the means of production communally
- No private property
- No family as such - Engles (1891, 1978) called the promiscuous horde
- Forces of production developed --> societies wealth increased
- Development of private property
- Class emerged who were able to seize the means of production
- ENGLES
- Monogamy became essential because of the inheritance of private property - men had to be sure of the paternity of their children to ensure the inheritance was legitamate
- The rise of the monogamous nuclear family represented a "world historical defeat of the female sex" - brought the woman's sexuality under male control and turned her into a "mere instrument for the production of children"
- EMANCIPATION
- Marxists argue that only through the overthrow of capitalism and private ownership of the means of production will women achieve liberation from patriarchal control
- Classlessness - means of production are owned collectively, not privately
- No more need for the patriarchal nuclear family (no need to transmit private property down the generation)
- IDEOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS
- Family today performs key ideological functions for capitalism
- Ideological - set of ideas or beliefs that justify inequality by accepting things are "fair", natural or unchangeable
- Socialising children into believing hierarchy and inequality are inevitable
- There is usually someone in charge (usually a man)
- Prepared for a working life in which they accept orders from their capitalist employers
- Family today performs key ideological functions for capitalism
- ZARETSKY (1979)
- The family also performs an ideological function by offering an apparent "haven" from the harsh and exploitive world of capitalism
- This, however, is largely and illusion - the family cannot meet the needs of its members (based on the domestic servitude of women)
- The family also performs an ideological function by offering an apparent "haven" from the harsh and exploitive world of capitalism
- A UNIT OF CONSUMPTION
- Capitalism exploits the labour of its workers --> selling the products for more than the pay of the workers
- The family plays a major role in this
- The media target children who use "pester power" --> tweens
- Advertisers urge families to consume the latest products
- Stigmatisation of children if they do not have the latest fashion
- CRITICISMS
- Feminists argue that the Marxist emphasis on social class and capitalism underestimates the importance of gender inequalities within the family --> the family is more beneficial to men than capitalism
- Marxists assume the nuclear family is dominant --> ignores the wide variety of family structures
- Functionalists argue that Marxists ignore the benefits the family provides for its members such as intimacy and mutual support
- PERSPECTIVES
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