Outline and explain two Marxist views on the family (17 marks)
There are two major Marxist views on family. One was shown by Engels (1884), he argued that marriage is a tool of men to control women sexuality, showing patriarchy in society meaning that males dominate and exploit females. From a Marxist point of view, this portrays the male representing the bourgeoisie whereas the female being the proletariat. Engels also argued that marriage only started when both spouses have ensured they have stability for instance private property. This is because people who owned property were mainly men and it would be passed down to offspring. However, some women did triple shift looking after the children, working and looking after the property, they did not own any property right, human beings are naturally promiscuous, and getting married and settling down is unnatural. This is because at the time women and men were not seen as equal and had to rely on the men for stability. As this theory is an old case study, now in the contemporary example females do not have to rely on male to provide stability. Feminist believe that women should have equality with men. There has been some legal changes that benefited women for instance able to vote
Another view on family is Zaretsky (1976), who contended that the family is the tool of the capitalist system and serves capitalism. This is shows that the workers are the puppets of society as the proletariat are being exploited by the bourgeoisie which lead to people seeking refuge in the family, which is similar to functionalist warm bath theory. This would take the pressure of the workers, going back the next day feeling less stressed and the bourgeoisie would continue to exploit the