Marxist theory 4F

Question 1

who are the key theorists for marxism

Answer 1

1. karl marx
2. engles
3. zaretsky
4. cooper

Question 2

what are marxists critical of ?

Answer 2

how the family serves the interests of capitialism, rather than how it serves the interests of its members

Question 3

4 main ways the family servers capitalism

Answer 3

1. buying products of capitalism
2. socialise their children into the values of capitalism
3. provide ‘safe havens’ from the capitalist workplace
4. raising the next generation of workers for capitalism

Question 4

what view did engles take of the family

Answer 4

evolutionary view

Question 5

what does engels believe is the main function of the family

Answer 5

ro ensure the subordination of women and the passing of private property from one male gneration to the next

Question 6

what does enlges say about the family

Answer 6

• before human life had property marrige + family life was not needed
• the rise of prpoerty meant that an organised system of inheritance was needed for fathers to know the order of prperty to be passed to offspring
• caused the need for monogomy - creating the family

Question 7

criticism’s of Engles views

Answer 7

• evidence if monogomous marrige in the nuclear family in many hunter gatherer groups
• idea of prmiscious hordes is possibly a figment of Engles’ imagination

Question 8

what does Zaretsky say about the family

Answer 8

• ” the family cannot meet the pressures of being the only refuge in a brutal society”
• means that the family is unable to provide for the psychological and personal needs of the family
  *

Question 9

how does Zaretsky feel the family helps maintain capitalism

Answer 9

• reproducing labour power - creating the next gen of workers
• consuming capitalism products
• emotional support for workers to help them cope with harsh world of capitalism
• socilaise children to accept inequalities of a capitalist society

Question 10

what does Cooper focus on

Answer 10

how children are treated

Question 11

what does cooper say parents motivies towards children are

Answer 11

• teach them to be obdient, so they are easily controlled at work
• make children aim at getting at getting respectable jobs, stamp on any dreams
• parents are the capitalist bosses and the children are the proletariat workers

Question 12

criticisms of marxism

Answer 12

• many sociologists reject marxist ideas that capitalism is unfair
• family may not be influenced by the economic system in the way marxists describe
• functionalists argue that the family works in the interests of its members and society as a whole not just for the ruiling class capitalists