Engles found that the family evolved over time and only became the family we assume to be family now by the introduction of restrictions on relationships and the production of offspring. This included the loss of polygamy and the introduction of monogamy. With monogamy, private property was developed and the state began to emerge.
In order to aid the continuation of private property, the state brought in laws to protect the private property and to protect monogamy. This was to eradicate the problems of inheritance, by stopping the problem of illegitimacy. Laws were made demanding that property must be passed down from the owner to his heir. This forced legitimacy and therefore ended promiscuity.
Overall, Engels sums up his arguments in two points. The first is that the family serves the requirements of the catholic society, and the second is that the family will always prevent women from achieving full equality.
This links in well with feminism, particularly the views of Marxist feminists. Engels and Zaretsky both acknowledged that women are exploited in the family, but stressed the relationship between Capitalism and the family more than the exploitation of women. Margaret Benston is a Marxist Feminist and states that if women were paid for the duties they perform as a housewife, even at minimum wage, would cause a huge redistribution of wealth. Benston also states that the Bourgeoisie are effectively paying the male and also acquiring the services of the female. The female labours for the male to produce a good worker for the capitalist society.
Although Marxist feminists recognise the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie, they tend to favour their arguments towards the oppression that the women face from men as commanding heads of the household, and the fact that women run the household yet get no form of pay from the Male head of the house or the Capitalist society.
Functionalists feel that the family is the most important aspect of society, and that there is no substitute for the family structure.
Functionalists use the analogy of the human body to show that everything in society fits together and depends on each other for survival. In this analogy, the heart, possibly the most vital organ in the human body, is used to represent the family. This shows that functionalists consider the family to be the most important part of society.
One man who studied the family was Murdock. Murdock stated
“The family is a social group characterized by common residence, economic co-operation and reproduction.
It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the sexually co-habiting adults.”
Murdock reached this definition of a family by visiting250 societies across the globe, and Murdock found supporting evidence in all two hundred and fifty. Overall Murdock states that the family has four roles in society. These are
- Reproduction
- Stabilisation of sexual relationships
- Economic function
- Primary source of socialisation
More evidence for the strength of the family unit is the negativity of communes. Communes are groups of people who co-habit yet do not have any legal, or blood ties. An example of these communes is the Kibbutz in Israel (Hebrew word for "communal settlement"). The Kibbutz gave their children to carers, who reared their children and educated their children. The Kibbutz carried this form of society on for many years, and functioned well. Communes like this show how well they can perform without the family structure. However the Kibbutz, and many other communes throughout the world, have broken up, and the Kibbutz have re-adopted the family structure.
William J. Goode added to the Functionalist view in a study of family trends throughout the world entitled World Revolution and Family Patterns in 1963. His basic argument was that there is a worldwide trend towards a monogamous nuclear family structure. In reply to claims that there is a diversity of family forms including polygamy, clan and extended families, social rather than biological fatherhood's. Goode argued that there was a universal trend towards the Western model of the nuclear family because like Parsons, he saw this an integral part of the global expansion of industrialization.
Ronald Fletcher, was broadly in agreement with the Functionalist approach, disagreed with the view that the functions of the family in advanced societies had diminished.
Liberal Feminism is the variety of feminism that works within the structure of mainstream society to integrate women into that structure. Its roots stretch back to the social contract theory of government instituted by the American Revolution. Abigail Adams and Mary Wollstonecraft were there from the start, proposing equality for women. As is often the case with liberals, they slog along inside the system, getting little done amongst the compromises until some radical movement shows up and pulls those compromises left of centre. This is how it operated in the days of the suffragist movement and again with the emergence of the radical feminists
Radical feminism is a branch of feminism that argues that patriarchy centres on a fundamental difference in interests between men and women, and that equality for women cannot be achieved unless men collectively give up the power, wealth, and privilege that patriarchy grants them.
Many people disagree with radical feminists claiming that they do not seek any form of equality, merely power over men. They have often been described as men haters.
The New Right also take an extreme approach to their views on the family. These include Traditional family Values, law and order, social authoritarianism and moral regeneration.
They also believe in various under classes, groups of people at the bottom of the stratification system, for example unemployed people who rely on government provided welfare benefits. They are categorised by crime, family, instability and unemployment.
A key theorist for this was William Wilson noted a considerable rise of black middle class families in the USA. Those black families who remained in the slums and bad areas did so not because of discrimination but because of economic disadvantage.
In the UK, Thatcher and the Conservative Party were big influences on these right wing policies. The conservative party had huge similarities to the Republican Party in America, and Thatcher has a lot of theories and views that she shares with Reagan.
In the UK, the New Right way of thinking still exists in the Conservative party, however with Labour in political power, we are witnessing left wing views instead. This involves the abolition of section 28, promoting homosexuality and schools, and providing extra benefits by working for single parent families.
Overall, the evidence suggests that all of the above theories are invalid because they are so completely exaggerated. There is no middle path between Marxism and Functionalism. Radical feminists are abusing their power and instead of campaigning for women’s rights they are looking to oppress men. The New Right theory is fascist in every sense and gives no thoughts to the anguish of deprivation.