Marxist believe the conventional families are the foundations of capitalism it does this in many way; Private property inheritance, Marxists believe that all functions of the family are performed purely for the benefit of the capitalist system. One of the key factors determining how our society plays in to the hands of capitalism is was who inherits Private property. Engles, Marx friend and supporter, argues that a monogamous nuclear family has become essential in society as men had to be certain of the parentage of their offspring to guarantee that their legitimate heir inherit from them. In Engels eyes this made for a ‘historical defeat for the female sex’ suggesting that woman were now under men’s control and just mere of object to provide offspring to become a heir to the inheritance. Marxist altercate that woman will never receive liberation from patriarchal control with the means of capitalism and private ownership nearby.
The Discrimination against Women Identities Throughout history, female were considered lesser beings and nothing more than the property of their husband. In the short story, Blank Spaces by Joanna Cockerline, the acknowledgment of female being inferior creatures in comparison to men is highlighted. Struggle against misfortunes, Elizabeth is oppressed by the social inequality due to the fact that she is a girl. In Blank Spaces, the social inequality implied by the narrative severely impacts Elizabeth’s career hierarchy, character traits, and life experiences. Like many feminist writer, Cockerline focuses her emphasis on how social norm discriminate women by inhibit their job opportunities.
Women carry out the triple burden in the household; the domestic labour, emotional labour, and paid labour. As shown in the item most of this work is ‘unpaid and hardly recognised work at all’. Oakley argues the only way women will gain independence and freedom in society is for the role of the housewife to be removed aswell as the present structure of the family. Wilmott and Young believed the family is symmetrical and that both husband and wife have joint conjugal roles making the family a functional institution and their research showed that men do help women with housework. Radical feminists such as Dobash and Dobash also disagree with Willmott and Young’s theory that the family is symmetrical.
However, Marx in Wage Labour and Capital demonstrate the surplus value which is appropriate by the capitalist in order to grow his capital. It is important to delight in the economic period that Wage Labour and Capital was write. Marx wrote it a few months before of the European Revolution of 1848. In that moment capitalism and proletarian face together to feudalism. These were the first sign of organized labour movement.
However, Engels’ theory supports the question, as it shows that people would do anything to ensure their wealth and power went to their children after their death. Another Marxist theory is that of Althusser. His theory is based on the Ideological State Apparatus. This is the theory, that the family is a tool, a tool to transmit bourgeoisie-corrupted values, which helps to ensure the family creates an efficient workforce, one that willingly obeys to any form of authority. However, this is contradicted by the theory of Lasch and Donzelot, the idea of fragmentation.
In the novella one of the main themes is alienation. In the story we meet a woman who is the wife of the ranch owner’s son. We do not know her name but she is referred to as Curley’s wife. A woman on anal man’s ranch is the first sign of alienation. At that time women were perceived as much inferior to men and possibly genetically less capable then men.
Thus demonstrating interdependency between the affluenza of consumerism culture and capitalistic economic growth. Response It is an accepted assumption that Consumerism (a social fascination with the acquisition of commercial goods) is a cornerstone of Capitalism. Just as Clive Hamilton suggests in the title of his institutional critique of the neo-classical assumptions of consumer sovereignty and rationality, Consumer Capitalism, he argues that the economic system is dependant on consumerist practices. Similarly Robert Heilbroner’s classical political economic analysis of the Ideology of Capital, via Marxist framework, demonstrates that a change in attitudes toward the ‘acquisition’ of capital and commodities is what allowed the bourgeoisie to realise themselves to be the dominant class and thus spur the development of a socio-economic system based on commodification to emerge. However other economists and socialists argue that the desire to consume an ever-increasing amount of commodities is one of man’s intrinsic values rather than the base of an economic system, it is his ‘hedonism unchained’ (Megone 2007).
History 201 Professor Studebaker “Her-Story of Women’s Suffrage” Makyla Pittman Imagine living a life filled with all forms of discrimination where you have no voice in the government under which you live and in the equality of social life where you are a chief factor. It is a difficult scenario to visualize and before the 19th century that was the reality of a women’s position in this world. With limited access, a young wife and mother was expected to manage a household, train her children, keep her friends and sustain the affections of her husband. In a world filled with patriarchal constraints women were forced to fall back on their instinctive resources of common sense, wisdom, diplomacy and knowledge of human nature. Education, employment, and politics are all barriers where women were held back from the full development of their faculties.
However, some women joined the work force and would do jobs that men previously had held. Some were not forced to, but they had to work as hard as they could to support their families during this difficult time. In contrast, the writer Norman Cousins commented that there was a negative opinion on the women’s presence in the workforce despite women willing to acquire a living wage. He also stated in his book that the federal government proscribed holding government jobs by both members of a married couple, and many localities stopped hiring women whose husbands with a minimum wage (Cousins 1939). Another aspect of the Depression affecting life of women was the moral argument against working-women.
The society’s superstructure or culture comprising of laws, morality, religion and politics. These are determined by society’s infrastructure, methods of production and exchange. He sees in history the conflicts that existed between different classes of people in society – the ruling class and the serfs during feudal times. The French Revolution brought an end to feudalism. But during his time, Marx witnessed the industrial Revolution bringing about conflicts between the capitalists and the proletariat, creating two classes in society – the rich and the poor.