Families and households (marxism)

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Marxist views of the family - 

Overall, the marxist perspective of the nuclear family is quite pesimistic. The overall belief of marxists is that the family maintains structural inequality and that the nuclear family in particular benefit the capitalist system. 

Engles elaborates and argues that the family is not a natural concept. The family was created by the ruling class as tool to benefit capitalism. At the start of society people lived in primitive communism meaning that they lived in open relationships referred to as primiscous hordes. As there was no private property, families, there was true equality in society. However, we now have a society and live in capitalism. Because of capitalism we have private property - even the family is seen as private property. Families created an 'Inheritence culture' which helps to promote wealth inequality as it is all kept in one class rather than being spread out equally. 

Zaretsky argued that there are three functions that the family performs that overall benefit capitalism. The first is socialisation into the false class conscioussness. The family is the institution where we learn our norms and values; those norms and values reproduce structural inequality. The family acts as a psychological outlet. As workers are exploited, the frustrations are taken out on the family as the family acts as a vent for the male worker. This is done so the man can return to work the next day. 

'Outline and explain two marxist views of the family' 

One marxist view of the family is that the family is not a natural concept. Engles would elaborate further on this as he believed that the family was created by the ruling class in order to maintain social class inequality and over all maintain the capitalist…

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