Marxist Views on Family (AQA GCSE Sociology)

Marxist views of the family

• Unlike functionalism, the Marxist perspective is critical of the nuclear family

  • Marxists, in contrast to functionalists, believe that the family socialised children into accepting the values of capitalism

• Marxists argue that social inequality is passed down from one generation to the next primarily through the family as:

  • the bourgeoisie are able to pass on their wealth to family members, maintaining the social class system

  • educational advantages are passed down through families, e.g. only wealthy people can afford to send their children to expensive private schools

  • working-class people may learn to accept their subordinate position in capitalist society and see the system as fair through socialisation

Key thinker: Zaretsky (1976)

• Marxist Zaretsky (1976) argues that the family was a unit of production before the early 19th century

  • During the early days of the textile industry, every member of the family produced cloth at home

• Work and family life became increasingly separated with the rise of industrial capitalism and factory-based production

  • The family and the economy are now seen as two separate spheres:

    • The private sphere

    • The public sphere

• Women became in charge of the family's personal relationships and welfare as a result of the division of work and home

  • However, Zaretsky thought that families could only serve as a buffer against the negative effects of capitalism, not as a source of emotional support

• The family serves the interests of capitalism in several ways:

  • The family has an economic function

    • Women carry out unpaid labour within the home, e.g. childrearing and housework

    • Women work for the capitalist system for free by keeping workers fed and clothed

    • Domestic labour is devalued as it is viewed as separate from the world of work

  • The role of the family is to reproduce labour

    • The bourgeois family passes down its private property from one generation to the next

    • The proletarian family reproduces the labour force by producing future generations of exploited workers

  • The family is a vital unit of consumption

    • Families buy and consume the products of capitalism and enable the bourgeoise to make profits

    • For instance, children are frequently the target of advertising, which encourages them to put pressure on their parents to buy expensive items

• Zaretsky believes that only socialism can end the separation of family and public life and make it possible for people to be personally fulfilled

Criticisms of Zaretsky and the Marxist perspective

• Many people are satisfied with family life and see marriage and having children as goals in life — Marxists ignore this

• The education system and the mass media are alternative agents that serve the needs of the capitalist system , which are more significant than the family

• Feminists argue that Marxists, like functionalists, ignore family diversity as they tend to work with the traditional model of the nuclear family, with a male breadwinner and female housewife

• Feminists also question the Marxist view that female oppression will simply disappear in a socialist society

• Functionalists view the nuclear family in positive terms as meeting the needs of individuals and industrial society