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.
In his book he specifies that ‘’if every does what he or she does best, the society as a whole would become more productive’’. Engels, on the contrary, wrote the book “The Communist Manifesto”, believed strongly in communism. A weak link in communism is that consumers are unable to obtain what they desire since the government decides what each individual acquires. And so, communism is always bound to fail because it stands for equal sharing of resources, in this case grinding individual rights to powder and then using it to build its idol of absolute sovereignty. Communism signifies a classless society that doesn’t see a difference between the rich and the poor.
In socialism the government owns the resources. The United States is capitalist, for example, and Norway is socialist. Capitalism and socialism have different approach to producing and to distributing goods but represent opposing belief system. Both the products and prices should be determined by the market forces, that’s
Karl Marx believed that the means, relations, and mode of production all relate to the inequality in a capitalist society. What he is talking about when he says means of production in society are physical non-human inputs used to produce goods. A means of production could be a natural resource or it could also be technology. Whoever controls the means of production is going to have the most power. The capitalist owned the means of production in capitalism and therefore basically were able to control the economy.
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. Marxist’s feel that all of society’s institutions are helping to maintain ‘class inequality’. Also, they feel the functions of the family are done only for the benefit of this Capitalist system and that institutions within this system are transmitting the ‘ruling class ideology’ which keeps this system maintained. Marxists view the family’s functions as: * Reproducing Workers * Ideological Functions * A Unit of Consumption * Inheritance and Private Property * Providing Emotional
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.
Alternatively, there are Marxists, such as Karl Marx, that believe that institutions are creating by the ruling class in order to control the working class. Marxists believe that the functions of the family are performed purely for the benefit of the ruling class. This view contrasts sharply with the functionalist view that the family benefits both society as a whole and the individual members of the family. Some Functionalists, such as Murdock, argue that there are 4 functions of the family that only the nuclear family can teach. Teaching of sexuality and gender roles, Murdock says that the nuclear family teaches people to express sexuality in a socially approved context, it teaches that heterosexuality is the norm and that other types of relationships are 'abnormal' eg.
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.
Marxists argue that the functionalist view of the family views those family structures which support and benefit Capitalism and that the nuclear family is part of the superstructure with the sole purpose of perpetuating a capitalist system. They also believe that the family socialises its members to accept the false consciousness that capitalism is good for all and that the government helps the people through healthcare etc. Marxism also rejects the functionalist idea that society is based on consensus; they would say that current society is based upon a conflict between the small powerful ruling class and the working majority. Both Marxists and feminists disagree with the functionalist idea that each organ of society exists for the benefit of society itself and for its individual members, they believe that they exist for the benefit of the ruling class of either capitalists or men, respectively. Talcott Parsons' Fit Thesis states that the Modern Nuclear family evolved to meet the needs of an industrial society.
In modern capitalist society, because there is ownership of private property and status, fathers need to be sure of the paternity of their offspring so that they can pass down their property, and the means of production to the rightful heir. This is only possible if relationships are stable and monogamous, therefore the traditional nuclear family is seen as the best way to ensure inheritance of property. Marxists believe that this is not actually beneficial to the working class, as it keeps the ownership of property among the rich and powerful, and restricts the poor from being able to break free from their oppression. Functionalists, like Murdock, also believe that the monogamous nuclear