Marxists view the family as a support to capitalism and the bourgeoisie. They believe that the family is one of the many institutions that maintain capitalism. They say that the key factor that determines all social institutions would be the mode of production and how it exploits the proletariat. When the wealth increased, the development of private property occurred, which then led to the rise of the patriarchal monogamous nuclear family. Engels argues that monogamy became essential because men needed to ensure that they were the father of the child so that they could pass down their property to the legitimate heir.
He looked to overthrow the capitalist system in favour of the structuralist approach (Perry, 2009). Marxists will always argue that the most important thing is the question of how a small group of people can exploit a vast majority of the population. They would study the power and wealth and look at the importance of social class division (Fulcher, J et al, 2007). Karl Marx believed there were only two basic classes’ the middle and the working class. Marx called the middle class the Bourgeoisie as they were either land owners or the bosses of factories and controlled society.
Marxist perspective of families and households (24 marks) Marxists view society as being based on inequality between the working class and the capitalist ruling class. They believe that all of society’s institutions, including the family are set up to serve the needs of capitalism, by maintaining the status quo of class inequality thus keeping the ruling class in control, and the working class oppressed by the capitalist elite. Marxists argue that the traditional family performs a range of functions which benefit capitalism, and that working class family members are tricked into believing actually benefit them. The first function that Marxists argue that the family performs for capitalism is the inheritance of property. In a classless society, there would be no private property, as the means of production would be owned communally.
In recent times, there is a growing concern of wealth inequality in America. This has really drawn criticism and challenge to capitalism as the model of socio-economic structure. Debates surrounding this issue are often traditionally addressed through two models: communism and capitalism. Karl Marx, in his work, “The Communist Manifesto,” criticizes capitalism for it’s preaching of individualism and competition, which leads to the exploitation of the working class thus resulting in further antagonization between socio-economic classes. Marx ends his criticism by offering up the complete abandonment of capitalist system in favor of a communistic system in which socio-economic autonomy is in the hands of the state.
The working class are called the Proletariats; the people who work for the institutions and big chains, and buy from, or use the institutions. Marxists believe that the Bourgeoisie are exploiting the Proletariats in a big superstructure that keeps society together and functioning. Marxism is a conflict theory. They believe that we’re in a Capitalist society and we are in a massive superstructure which is controlled by the Bourgeoisie. They all also believe that the family gained its structure due to this Capitalist divide, and before Capitalism there was no family structure because everyone shared the labour and owned all means of production.
Believers and people who practice both socialism and capitalism have heavy criticism of each other. Socialists for example believe that Capitalists produce a system where there is a clear distinction among the rich and the poor. The system is believed to encourage exploitation of workers, so that the business owners become wealthy. These business owners are the ones in many cases who influence policies, by using their wealth to getting what they want, by funding political campaigns, for example. Capitalists, on the other hand, believe that Socialists deny people their basic rights of freedom of decisions and opportunities.
The Marxism interpretation on “Our Economic Pickle” and its critics PART I The article “Our Economic Pickle” published on New York Times analyzes the issue of stagnant wage of blue-collar workers and presentes several solutions. In a Marxism interpretation, the issue is precisely the outcome of capitalism, and the only solution to the problem is communism. The article reflects the flaw of capitalism: the estranged relationship between production and producer. Marx said, “What they [men] are, therefore, coincides with their production, both with what they produce and with how they produce.”(Marx, P.150) In other words, production becomes human’s material life. Before capitalism, humans produced their own product with their own instrument of production, however, after capitalism come into being, not only the means of production but also the products themselves are taken away from the producers.
Evaluate the Marxist perspective of religion Marxists are a group of sociologists that believe “religion is the opium of the people”, therefore it acts as a drug to dull the pain of oppression for the working class and makes life seem more bearable. However, sociologists have long been divided on the function of religion, so Marxists can be criticised in a number of ways. Marxists argue that religion benefits the ruling class in a number of ways. Firstly, it promises life after death which makes our suffering in this life more acceptable. Secondly, it makes social inequality seem fair and just, justifying social hierarchy.
Asses the Marxist view that the main role of the family is to serve the interests of capitalism. The Marxist view is just one of many perspectives of the main role of the family. They believe that the family serves the interests of capitalism and the Bourgeoisie, and helps to maintain class equality. They also belie that the family model allows for the main provider (the man) to go out to work where the middle class take advantage of their labour. This idea is at odds with the functionalists view that the family benefits society and the family members.
The capitalist owned the means of production in capitalism and therefore basically were able to control the economy. Since one group is in power of the means this creates a huge gap of inequality. By controlling the means of production the capitalist were also able to form the relations of production. The relations of production are based on the owners and workers coming to an agreement on the terms of employment and the overall relationships between these two classes of people in general. According to Marx in Capitalism the bourgeoisie are motivated to accumulate as much profit as possible and the proletariat are trying to get as much money for their labor as possible.