Using material from item 2B and elsewhere assess the Marxists view that the main role of the family is to serve the interest of capitalism. (24 marks) To fully assess the Marxist view that the main role of the family is to serve the interest of capitalism, Marxist is a conflict theory which sees all society’s institutions, such as the education system, the media, religion and the state, as helping to maintain class inequality and capitalism.
For Marxist’s therefore, the functions of the family are performed solely for the benefit of the capital system. This view contrasts sharply with the functionalist view that the family benefits both society as a whole and the individual members of the family. Engels argued that the need for the family arose when societies started to value private property. With the rise of private property an organised system of inheritance became necessary – fathers needed to know who their offspring were in order to pass their property down the family line.
With this, argues Engels, the need for monogamy arose – one man married one woman – and hence the family was created. Therefore the family serves the interests in economy – in this case the creation of ownership of property – while subjecting women to unequal power relations in the home. This helps capitalism because wealth is not shared around and stays in families. However, modern research has suggested that Engels’ interpretations of the development of the family are historically inaccurate. For example, monogamous marriage and the nuclear family are often found in hunter-gatherer groups.
The Essay on The Functionalist and Marxist views on the Family
... Marxists view the family in a very disparaging light and regard the family as a tool of capitalism and the bourgeoisie. Marxists ... he realized that the monogamous nuclear family developed in order to ensure property inheritance was being passed on to ... important in the family. Marxist, Engels, did a study in 1972.Engels put forward the evolutionary view of the family, tracing its developments ...
Since humans have spent the vast majority of their existence as hunter-gatherers, the idea that the nuclear family emerged as a response to private property is unlikely. Functionalists such as Parsons would reject Engels view of the development of the family. Rather than being a vehicle for passing down inherited wealth, the family plays an important role in socialising the young and stabilising adult personalities. Moreover, the division of labour in families reflects the natural expressive, nurturing and caring roles of women, and the more instrumental, providing role of men.
Zaretsky suggests that the family serves capitalism by offering emotional security from the oppressive world of work, thus allowing oppression to continue. However, in reality it only provides emotional warmth to encourage its members to continue to live another day under the harsh realities of capitalism. This benefits capitalism because workers do not question their role in society as they are socialised already and won’t wake up from the false class consciousness. However, the liberal feminist Jenifer Somerville argues that Zaretsky underestimates the extent of cruelty, violence and incest within families.
She also argues that Zaretsky ignores the fact that during the early stages of capitalism most working class women had to take paid work in order for the family to survive, and relatively few stayed at home as full-time housewives. Overall the view that the main role of the family is to serve the interest of capitalism is probably correct, as they socialise their children into being ready to join a docile workplace, which is what capitalism want. Therefore the main role of the family is to serve the interest of capitalism.