Marxism & the Family

[Pogue]

I hear talk from Marxists, I believe Engels mentioned it, criticising families, saying they are a construct of class society etc.

Could someone explain this for me? What is worng with families and what will replace them? Is there any form of close personal relatinoship between people in lvoe excerpt for marriage and parenthood?

[Potemkin]

Well, in anarchism and anarchist-communism, the nuclear family is a microcosm of patriarchal, hierarchical society and should be done away with. I think the idea is just to expand the notion of family beyond its nuclear core, out to friends, neighbors, and the community. The saying "it takes a village to raise a child," would be taken much more literally. The ideas of mutual aid, solidarity, camaraderie, etc., lay the groundwork for this. Also, I think children would be more liberated, no longer being seen as their parents' property.

I believe Engels did mention this, although I haven't read it. I would guess it would be in "Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State."

[ernie]

I hear talk from Marxists, I believe Engels mentioned it, criticising families, saying they are a construct of class society etc.

Could someone explain this for me? What is worng with families and what will replace them? Is there any form of close personal relatinoship between people in lvoe excerpt for marriage and parenthood?
As Potemkin mentioned, Engels did write about this quite extensively in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/index.htm). In a nutshell, monogamy was imposed upon women by men in order to assure that their children would inherit their wealth.

It's really hard to say what "families" will look like in a communist society. I've mentioned before that I really doubt that monogamous relationships will be the norm. People will be more honest about their romantic feelings and their sexual desires. Perhaps it will find it acceptable if one's loved one has sex with other partners.

Again, it's hard to say. What is fairly clear to me is that the idea of a monogamous, life-long marriage will be thought of as too restrictive...in fact, that's already happening. Less and less people are willing to get married, and more and more are getting divorced. Monogamy is too restrictive.

[zimmerwald1915]

I really need to stop using revleft as a procrastination tool, so for now I'll just say that kinship the sentiment does not necessarily yield a specific form of family the social institution. The family, like everything else, springs from the social process of production and as the social process of production changes so will the structure of the family.

[BobKKKindle$]

The nuclear family forms the basis of the oppression that women suffer in public life, because the fact that women are responsible for carrying out domestic tasks such as caring for young children and preparing meals for other members of the family unit limits opportunities for personal advancement and financial independence outside the home. The effects of this are clear to see: women account for more than half of all part-time workers because part-time employment is often the only form of work that allows women to carry out domestic tasks (and thereby fulfill the obligations which have been imposed on them by the ideology of a patriarchal society) and at the same time make a contribution to the collective income of the family unit of which they are a member. Even when women do have the ability to work full-time, they are often employed in jobs which are an extension of or at least closely linked to traditional gender-roles and the tasks they perform in the home, such as catering, and cleaning.