Materialist/Marxism

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (mid to late 1800s)

• Focus of materialism/Marxism is on mode of production (How do we produce the things we need to survive? What form of organization does production take?)
• Capitalism = economic exploitation which produces conflict between owners (bourgeoisie), labourers/workers (proletariat)
  • owners own the means of production; their goal is to get the most out of the workers for the least pay
  • workers are exploited for their labour but also dependent on wages for survival.

What does all this have to do with families, according to Marx and Engels?

• Class relations determine heterosexual relations, they argue
• The wage earner has more power in families; men earn while women are dependent on men. Hence, the material conditions/mode of production determine male dominance.