It was to allow husbands to control their wives and this was to ensure the paternity of the sons. Therefore, wealth can be kept in the hands of bourgeoisie families (the ruling class) through inheritance from father to son. This is useful that he identifies the male superior towards the in the N.F and the importance functionalists believe of reproduction to keep the wealth within the family. Also shows the functionalists theory of the economic function of the family to be kept in the family showing the unfair advantage the bourgeoisie had on the proletariat. Eli Zaretsky in 1976 said the N.F reproduces the next generation of workers and it consumes the good of capitalism.
The assumption that the main role of the family is to solely promote capitalism is a view expressed by Marxists. Marxists claim the sole purpose of the family is to promote social class inequalities and act as a haven for capitalism. Marxists argue the nuclear family promotes the interests of the bourgeoisie at the expense of the proletariat. Such interests appear to be promoted in a number of ways throughout various aspects of family life. Marxists state the nuclear family performs ideological functions as it promotes ruling class ideology.
Marxists believe that we live in a capitalist society and that society is divided into two classes: the bourgeoisie, the ruling class, and the proletariat, the working class. Capitalism is an economic system in which trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit (the bourgeoisie). As it states in item 2b, Marxists argue that the family help maintain the class inequality and exploitation in society and they do it to serve the interests of capitalism. This view has been criticised by functionalist and feminist sociologists. Marxists consider that the family provides the function of inheritance of property.
A criticism of Murdock’s theory is that other institutions can for fill some of the functions that the family performs for example the education system or the media. Marxist and feminist have also opposed his claims saying that functionalists don’t take conflict or exploitation into consideration. Feminists say that the family teach the needs of men and oppressing women so they believe that the functions the family perform all contribute to male dominance and ruling over women. Marxist says that this meets the needs of capitalism but not the family members or society all together. They suggest that the functions that the family perform all help capitalism for example the function of the next generation Marxist see it as reproducing the next generation of workers.
Without labourers the economy (infrastructure) cannot be serves, thus failing the bourgeoisie. Therefore, on this basis alone, Marxists argues that the functionalists have not really contributed to our understanding of the family at all as they offer a utopian rather than realistic view. Once the family has been born, functionalists argue that the socialisation of individuals is imperative. The nuclear family provides primary socialisation which inducts members into the value consensus of society. This enables that progression of society and ensure the equilibrium is maintained.
Assess the contribution of Marxism to our understanding of families and households (24 marks) Marxists have very different views on the family compared to other key sociologists. They believe that the only purpose of the family is to feed back into the capitalist society. Marxists see all society’s institutions as helping to maintain class inequality and Capitalism. Marists views have been criticised by other sociologists that believe the family does not only benefit society but the members of the family themselves. Marxist believes that society is in a state of conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
Some sociologists would say that society does exist in a state of conflict, they would support this with views of feminism and Marxism. However other sociologists may argue that society exists in a state of consensus, where everyone is in agreement, this is known as functionalism. Marxism is a description of how the world is, and an ideology of how Karl Marx thought the world should become. Marxism explains that there is inequality between the classes; the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Marxists believe the ruling class (bourgeoisie) have all the power and wealth over the working class (proletariat).
Marxism is the belief that the bourgeoisie’s position is implemented to minimalise class conflict and legitimise inequality. The ruling classes manipulate these ideas in every corner of society, even art, law and education. This view is outlined in “The Communist Manifesto”, written by Karl Marx. They believe that by removing class inequality, a society without poverty, crime and all of the problems in modern society will no longer be a problem, allowing everybody to share and co-exist. Under Mannheim’s definition of an ideology, Marxism would be seen as a utopian ideology.
c. While the above doctrines emphasized individualism and free will to success, Social Darwinism, which was embraced by big business, believed that wealth, leadership, success, and prosperity were more determined by evolutionary superiority (survival of the fittest) and that once all the weak species died off only the superior race would be left. d. People who believed in Social Darwinism also believed in a Lassiez-Faire type of government which had little to no government involvement in the economy or business. The only area these people wanted government involvement in was the protection of private property and they
In this essay I will discuss the Marxist view of the family. Marxists believe that the traditional nuclear family is the best type because they support the capitalist society. A key Marxist sociologist is Engels, he believes that family has the best structure of a capitalist society within its traditional gender roles. They favour this because it provides stability and socialises is the family into roles that support the capitalist ideology. Engels believes in the inheritance of private property to the correct off spring.