Marxist Perspective On Family

In this essay I will explore the different schools of feminism such as Marxist, liberal and radical feminism, who share the view that women are oppressed in a patriarchal society but differ in opinion on who benefits from the inequalities. Each school of feminism has their own understanding of family roles and relationships which I will assess through this essay.

The functional perspective of the family by Murdock and parsons, the functionalist perspective has focused on the functions of the family in society, it looks at how the family, as a whole, help in maintaining order and stability in society, and the significance of the family for its individual members. Two well-known functionalists who have written about the family are George. P. Murdock and Talcott Parsons.

Feminism is a very popular and controversial concept in today’s world. Feminism is a range of ideologies as well as social and political movement all aiming for a common goal to define, establish and achieve equal rights and position to women legally as well as socially. The people with these ideologies are commonly known as FEMINIST. Feminism theory is not only about understanding but also to take action. Naturally people expect women to be related to the idea of feminism and be a feminist rather than men. Men have taken part as significant cultural and political responses within each wave of feminism movements.Feminist men have also argued alongside scholars that liberation of men from the socio cultural constraints of gender roles and sexism is a significant part of feminist activism and scholarship.

Marxist feminists: Marxist feminist focuses on the exploitation of women, especially in working class women. Critical of women’s current role reinvigorating their husbands and partners and procreating e.g. women should make men happy cooking, cleaning, coffee etc. Marxist feminist criticise women’s current role of procreation since according to them, this will only produce the next generation of workers who will be easily exploited by capitalism. Marx feminist are also against domestic labour.

Women are humans, humans with emotions and the need for self expression. The men, throughout history, have degraded the female sex, they have always seen women as objects and a machine that helps reproduce and carry on their blood. Society formed the ‘perfect’ role for women and it was expected that they follow it. They were expected to be the loving, responsible, obedient, stay at home wives. Due to such an inequitable lifestyle given to women, they decided to fight for equality and defend their gender. They will later be known as feminists. According to Literary and Cultural Theory by Donald Hall, feminists focal point is to investigate the various ways women have been limited to social power and the liberty to self

In this essay I will be talking about how feminist have contributed to our understanding of family roles and relationships. There are several different types of feminist theory, but all of them share certain characteristics in common; there is a fundamental division in society between men and women, that women are to some extent exploited by men and that society is male dominant or patriarchal this means “rule by the father” but is used by feminist to indicate that men have more power than women and the interest of men largely shapes how society is run. They believe that these theories are also critical of existing sociology arguing that it has a pro male bias. They call male-dominated sociology malestream sociology calming that most

By evaluating the situation and lives of women in society, the feminist perspective is defined as a source of social inequality, group conflict and social problems. For feminist, patriarchal society is the foundation of social problems. The patriarchal male dominated society where women are meant to justify the rule through devaluation; however, the definition of patriarchy has dominated the powerful group expanded to include the social devaluation of the power rating (Leon-Guerrero, Anna, 2015).

With the goal of society viewing women as equal to men in mind, feminists strived to rid this stereotypical family. Feminists also sought to convince America that a woman’s full-time commitment to

Marxist feminism is a sub-category of the larger feminist theory; this kind of feminism is primarily attentive to explaining how women are oppressed through capitalist systems and the emergence of the concept of private property. According to Marxist feminists, women's true emancipation, all over the world, can only be achieved through a fundamental reorganization of the capitalist economy that does not fairly compensate women's labor. Additionally, Marxist feminists do criticize Marx for what they think was his partial analysis of sexism under capitalism and total indifference to gender imbalance. However, they do not dismiss the basic Marxist fundamentals.

Feminist theory aims to understand the nature of gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations and sexuality. Feminist political activism campaigns on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, sexual harassment, discrimination and sexual violence. Themes explored in feminism include discrimination, stereotyping, objectification, sexual objectification, oppression and

Secondly, liberal feminism has been criticised because it tends to assume that all women accept their gender identities in a passive way. Liberal feminism also does not take race or class into consideration. Marxist feminists believe women's subordination is down to the influence of capitalism. Women are seen as a reserve army of labour.' Companies only hire them when they really need them, and they do less important jobs than men, making them more disposable. Women change jobs more frequently than men, so are more vulnerable at times of redundancy, they tend to be less skilled, and capitalist ideologies locate women in the home.

According to the liberal feminist approach, women are less privileged than men and focus should be aimed at social change through legislation and social policy so women have equal opportunity. Thus, in order to change the current state of the family and how parenting roles are divided, new policies such as free child care and tax breaks for families should be implemented. The benefits of free child care would provide women with the opportunity to have their children cared for while they pursue their career goals or other tasks. Tax breaks would easy the stress on both parents financially and allow the father to work less hours and be at home more helping out with chores.

Like Liberal Feminism, Radical Feminism seeks to end partriarchy. However; In contrast to Radical Feminism, focuses more on the issue of men’s oppression of women rather other social conditions. The crux of this perspective is sexuality which is seen as the locus of male power Mackinnon (1989a).

For many years, women have aimed for gaining equality with men. They’re opportunities were taken away because of the fact that they were women. Overtime feminism has expanded and diversified in many different aspects including approach and priorities. The changes in them are result of many different social economic groups of women because of the various goals set for methods of creating change, which are implemented within the movement. The feminist movement has been trying to give equal rights to women who have been destitute of their equality and privileges that man have never given them. Feminism is beneficial to men, women, and their families because it is allowing everyone to have an equal opportunity in life to achieve all they can without any discrimination based on their sex.

Feminist theory analyzes the gender inequality that women have faced throughout the years due to a patriarchal society. Women were expected to fit the traditional female and conform to the gender norms that society has constructed. According to A Brief Introduction to Critical Theory, “Feminism embodies a way of reading that investigates the text’s investment in or reaction to the patriarchal power structures that have dominated Western culture” (227). Patriarchal power has oppressed women economically, socially, and politically. Women were associated more with domesticity than with politics and financial situations. They were not provided the same educational opportunities as men. These issues have been addressed by people, such as Mary