Today’s study is Father Christmas
Actually it is Marxism & the family
He didn’t really believe in Father Christmas he felt
that religion was just another form of
‘ideological control’
• So you can’t remember what this is?
Click here and utilise this sociological dictionary
from the website
Find the old man reading the book and click there!
Essentially try to think of brainwashing ‘the
imposition of ideas upon people’
So Mr Marx and the Family
To begin with any analysis of a Marxist view you
have to understand his view on society. You
have covered a little of this already. So the
Christmas man begins with
Our economic
system is referred
to as the
‘Capitalist
economic system”
The economic
system
Capitalist society
The bourgeoisie (the capitalists,
or class that own & control the
means of economic production)
In your Sociology in Focus this
group is referred to as the
“Ruling Class”
This group in modern societies
are the private owners of
banks, factories basically your
fat cats of industry. The
‘power’ (a central concept in
sociology) is held in the hands
of a few.
Mr Christmas’s words ‘The Proletariat’
S.I.F words ‘the subject class- the
workers’
The Ruling class exploit
the working class
 They work for the
Ruling Class
producing goods, and
services and are paid
a pittance. The
rewards for all their
hard labour are
placed in the hands
minority Ruling class!
Conflict
So Marx based his ideas on
conflict between the
ruling class and the
subject class. The cause
of the tension was
economic inequality like
functionalists he saw that
social institutions in
society helped maintain
the status quo of society.
Social Institution: The Family
The family works to maintain the existing
relations within society.
Outline in what ways you see the family
maintaining the existing state of society.
Think how Marx would think, examine the
economic relations!
End analysis
He is just here for
cuteness!
Capitalists use the family as a way of increasing
their economic profits, and their oppression and
control of the proletariat.
Marx’s friend the feminist
Engels
The Origin of private property and the State
1884
Examined the evolution of family over time.
He felt that the nuclear family emerged to deal
with the problematic of male inhertance.
Develop this idea forward yourself
Cooper

Marxists have also pointed out how the family is
an "ideological conditioning unit" (Cooper)
which trains children to have attitudes which are
acceptable to capitalism. The family also
consumes goods which help the capitalist
system increase profits. Even our ideas about
sexual jealousy and the "double standard" of
sexual morality can be traced by Marxists to the
idea of private property: men "own" women,
and this was originally a device to make sure
they passed their wealth to their sons.
Marxism: Engels
So let me do my rant “men controlling
women”
Monogamy providing the most effective way
of enforcing this
Made from his rib
Adam’s Eve was inferior
to him and likely to
engage in sinful
activities
Marxist Feminist: Benston
The political economy of women’s liberation, 1972
Argues, that the wife's housework is "unpaid
labour" which otherwise the capitalist
would have to pay for: the male workers
are "serviced" free of charge if they have
wives. The worker is also less likely to go
on strike or demand higher wages if he
has a wife and children to support, and
the housewife is part of a "reserve army of
labour" the capitalists can call on when
they are needed to work.
Benston
Socialisation within the family
produces a situation whereby
 Women are less likely to asset
their rights at work than men
(taught subservience)
 Male trade unions may not
support them
He is just
here for
cuteness!
Marxists Feminists as well as Engels
Would argue that the family serves to
doubly oppress women.
Explain want is meant by this statement
Zaresky (1976)
adds that the family is an active unit of
consumption (bling bling) so it too actively
feeds into the Bourgeoisie money making
empire!
Functionalism
Beginning evaluation:
Important sociological skill1
How do Marxist ideas of the family contrast
with functionalist ideas?
In what way do they share a Marxists view?
Recap Talcott Parsons
How would a Marxist feminist criticise their
view of families?