The Marxist Perspective on The Family

Last Updated on November 14, 2026 by Karl Thompson

The Marxist perspective on the family argues that the family is shaped by capitalism and primarily serves the interests of the ruling class. According to Marxists, the family is not a neutral institution that benefits everyone equally. Instead, it reinforces inequality, maintains class divisions, and supports the smooth functioning of a capitalist society.

This post outlines key Marxist ideas about the family, explores different theorists’ contributions, and considers criticisms of the perspective.

Key Ideas of the Marxist Perspective on the Family

Marxists see the family as performing functions that benefit capitalism rather than society as a whole:

1. Inheritance of property – Families ensure that wealth and property are passed down through generations, maintaining class inequality.
2. Ideological functions – Families socialise children into accepting authority and inequality as normal and natural.
3. Unit of consumption – Families are important consumers of goods and services, generating profits for capitalist companies.

This post has been written primarily for students studying the families and households option as part of A-level sociology.

Engels – The Origins of the Nuclear Family

According to Friedrich Engels, in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884), the monogamous family emerged with private property. Engels drew heavily on the American anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan’s Ancient Society (1877). He argued that the earliest human societies were classless and practised a form of ‘primitive communism’ in which there was no private property. Property was collectively owned, and the family structure reflected this: there were no families as such, but tribal groups lived in a kind of ‘promiscuous horde’ in which there were no restrictions on sexual relationships.

However, once people began to keep herds of animals and farm the land, wealth could be accumulated, and it was mostly men who came to own it. Society, and the family, changed. A society based on private ownership is one in which people use their own personal wealth for their own benefit, not for the benefit of everyone else.

Eventually the men who owned property started to look for ways to pass on their wealth to the next generation, rather than having it shared out amongst the group, and this is where the monogamous family comes from. It is the best way of guaranteeing that you are passing on your property to your son, because in a monogamous relationship you have a clear idea of who your own children are. Engels called the overthrow of the old ‘mother right’ (tracing descent through the female line) “the world-historic defeat of the female sex”.

Under capitalism, the bourgeoisie are the property owners, and the same logic applies. Ultimately what this arrangement does is to reproduce inequality: the children of the rich grow up into wealth, while the children of the poor remain poor. Thus the nuclear family benefits the bourgeoisie more than the proletariat.

Criticisms of Engels

Much of the anthropology Engels relied on is no longer accepted. Many of the details Engels took from Morgan, including the idea of an early ‘promiscuous horde’, aren’t accepted by most modern anthropologists, so Engels’ account of where the family came from rests on weak evidence.

Critics also point out that women’s legal and economic position has improved most in wealthy capitalist societies such as the UK and the USA over the last hundred years. That sits awkwardly with the idea that a society built on private property depends on women’s subordination.

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The family as an Ideological Apparatus

The modern nuclear family functions to promote values that ensure the reproduction and maintenance of capitalism. The family is described as an ideological apparatus – this means it socialises people to think in a way that justifies inequality and encourages people to accept the capitalist system as fair, natural and unchangeable.

The term comes from the French Marxist Louis Althusser. In ‘Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses’ (1970; English translation 1971), he distinguished the ‘repressive state apparatus’ (the police, courts and army, which control people by force) from ‘ideological state apparatuses’, which control people by shaping what they believe. The family is one of the ideological state apparatuses he lists, alongside education, religion and the media. For Althusser, these institutions reproduce the relations of production: they turn out a workforce that accepts its place in the system.

One way in which this happens is that there is a hierarchy in most families which teaches children to accept there will always be someone in “authority” who they must obey, which then mirrors the hierarchy of boss-worker in paid employment in later life.

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The Family as a Unit of Consumption

Capitalists/business owners want to keep workers’ wages down so they can make a profit, but to do so they must also be able to sell the workers goods, i.e. they must create demand for their products. The family builds demand for goods in a number of ways.

1) Families must keep up with the material goods/services acquired by their neighbours and peers, e.g. family holidays and cars. This is known as “Keeping up with the Joneses”. There are significant amounts of advertising and TV programmes influencing parents in this way.

2) The media and companies target children in their advertising, and children then persuade their parents through ‘pester power’ to buy more expensive items. Countries regulate this very differently. Sweden has banned television advertising aimed at children under 12 since 1991. The UK has no general ban: advertising to children is governed by the advertising codes, and since 5 January 2026 adverts for ‘less healthy’ food and drink have been banned on UK television before 9pm and from paid-for online advertising altogether (gov.uk).

For more on who developed this idea, the ‘false needs’ it relies on and the evidence for and against it, see To what extent is the family a willing unit of consumption?

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Overall Criticisms of Marxism

• It’s too deterministic – it assumes people passively accept socialisation and family life, and that the future is pre-determined. There are plenty of families who reject the consumerist lifestyle and many families bring their children up to be independent thinkers.
• The Marxist perspective ignores family diversity: in capitalist society, the nuclear family is no longer the main type of family. In fact, family breakdown may be better for capitalism, as divorce is expensive and more money has to be spent on maintaining family relationships and later on forming new families.
• Feminists argue that the Marxist focus on social class inequalities downplays the role of patriarchy, which is the real source of female oppression. Feminists would point out that sex inequalities exist within all families, irrespective of social class background.
• Marxism ignores the benefits of the nuclear family, e.g. both parents support the children. The New Right point out that this is the most functional type of environment in which to raise children, and functionalists such as Murdock argue the nuclear family is found in most societies around the world, suggesting it is something people choose.

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How the Marxist perspective on the family comes up in the exam

The Marxist perspective on the family is examined on AQA Paper 2 (7192/2), Topics in Sociology, in the Families and Households section. AQA set it as the 20-mark essay in June 2022:

Applying material from Item D and your knowledge, evaluate Marxist explanations of the role of families in society today. [20 marks]

You can find the Item, a full answer and how the marks are split in Evaluate Marxist explanations of the role of families in society today (20 marks).

Marxism is also useful as evaluation in other questions. If you get a 20-marker on functionalist or New Right views of the family, the Marxist criticisms above are some of your strongest material. For a 10-mark practice question on this topic, see analyse two ways in which the nuclear family might perform ideological functions.

References

• Althusser, L. (1971) ‘Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses’, in Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays, trans. B. Brewster. London: New Left Books. (First published in French in La Pensée, 1970.)
• Engels, F. (1884) The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.
• Giddens, A. and Sutton, P. W. (2021) Sociology. 9th edition. Cambridge: Polity.
• Haralambos, M. and Holborn, M. (2013) Sociology: Themes and Perspectives. 8th edition. London: Collins.
• Morgan, L. H. (1877) Ancient Society.
• Zaretsky, E. (1976) Capitalism, the Family and Personal Life.

Summary: Marxism and the Family

To finish, here’s a quick summary of the key points about Marxism and the family, including a comparison with functionalism and answers to common exam-style questions.

Engels: The Origins of the Family

Friedrich Engels (1884) argued that the monogamous family developed alongside private property. Before private property, societies were more communal and did not have strict family units. However, once private property became central, the family emerged as a way for men to control women’s sexuality and ensure legitimate heirs for property inheritance.

• The family, therefore, functions to reproduce class inequality.
• Engels described this as the “world-historic defeat of the female sex”, since women’s roles became tied to domestic labour and childbearing.

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Zaretsky: The Family as an Ideological Apparatus

Eli Zaretsky (1976) built on Marxist ideas, arguing that the family:

• Provides emotional support for workers, which helps them cope with the exploitation of capitalism.
• Socialises children into capitalist values, teaching them obedience and respect for authority.
• Creates an illusion of a private, separate sphere of life, but in reality it is deeply connected to the economic system.

For Zaretsky, the family cushions the blows of capitalism but ultimately reinforces its survival.

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The Family as a Unit of Consumption

• According to Marxists, families are also crucial consumers under capitalism.
• This benefits the capitalist class, who profit from consumer demand.
• Capitalist economies rely on families to buy goods and services – from food and clothing to cars and holidays.
• Advertising and the media create a culture of “false needs”, encouraging families to spend money on unnecessary products.

Comparison Table: Marxist vs. Functionalist Views of the Family

Aspect	Marxist Perspective	Functionalist Perspective
Main Role of the Family	Serves capitalism, reproduces inequality, benefits ruling class	Maintains social order, benefits society as a whole
View of Inheritance	Ensures property and wealth are passed down, maintaining class inequality	Not a focus; family continuity seen as positive
Socialisation	Transmits capitalist ideology, teaches obedience and acceptance of inequality	Socialises children into shared norms and values
Emotional Support	Provides a “safety valve” for workers, but mainly to stabilise capitalism	Provides real emotional and practical support to members
Consumption	Family is a unit of consumption, fuelling profits for capitalists	Family consumption seen as meeting needs rather than exploitation

A Level Sociology Families and Households Revision Bundle

If you like this sort of thing, then you might like my Sociology Families and Households Revision Bundle.

The bundle contains the following:

1. 50 pages of revision notes covering all of the sub-topics within families and households
2. mind maps in pdf and png format – 9 in total, covering perspectives on the family
3. short answer exam practice questions and exemplar answers – 3 examples of the 10 mark, ‘outline and explain’ question.
4. 9 essays/ essay plans spanning all the topics within the families and households topic.

Signposting and Related Posts

The Marxist perspective on the family is normally taught after the Functionalist perspective on the family, and is normally the second of five perspectives on the family within the families and households module in A-level sociology.

Evaluate Marxist explanations of the role of families in society today (20 marks) – the exam essay on this topic.

To what extent is the family a willing unit of consumption? – the unit of consumption idea in more depth.

Marxist Feminist Perspectives on the Family

Feminist Perspectives on the Family

For second year material on Marxist theory see this summary of the key ideas of Marxism.