The Family and Capitalism in Marxist Theory

Abstract

There have been three major contributions within Marxism to the study of the family: the classic texts of Marx and Engels, the work of the Frankfurt School and the responses of contemporary Marxists to the challenge of the women’s movement. Each of these phases has been characterised by different concepts and different concerns. In reviewing these approaches, with particular reference to the relationship between the family and capitalism, I shall make the following points. Firstly, that the methodological problem for Marxism of satisfactorily relating base and superstructure has had serious consequences for the study of the’ family which has generally either fallen into economic reductionism or laid excessive emphasis upon the role of the family as an ideological institution, failing to root this adequately in its material activities. Similarly, it has been difficult to avoid functionalist formulations in analysing the family. Secondly, that despite the weaknesses of the domestic labour debate, a Marxist account of the family in capitalist society must rest upon a materialist analysis of domestic labour and that the socialisation of children is its central component and main contribution to the maintenance of capitalist social relations. Thirdly, that we must examine the relationship of both the bourgeoisie and the proletariat to the family, recognising that the relationship of each is a contradictory one and that the interests of the two are not wholly incompatible with each other but overlap in certain important ways. Fourthly, I shall examine certain neglected aspects of the relationship between the processes of socialisation and the institutions of capitalist society whose study may lead to a more satisfactory theorisation of the family and capitalism.