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Sexual Promiscuity, during the period of primitive communism the family did not exist.
Concepts of incest and morality in general had not been developed.
?Free sex? with no social restrictions or taboos.
Savagery, or Group marriage - brothers would have sexual access to their wife and her sisters and their brother?s wives and sisters
Language as a social fossil. "Aunts and uncles" demonstrating evidence of social relations long since passed. Descent would be through matriarchy.
Engels and the evolution of the family cont?.
Polygamy. This stage would restrict the freedom of the group marriage stage. In order to introduce the notion of heirs, under Marxist thought.
Monogamy. The development of private property and the state.
Purity of the paternal line of inheritance.
Property is passed from father to son.
The state then develops as a result of private property.
Private property becomes all important and replaces the family as the basis of society.
But what will replace the family during communism? Engels provides no answer to this question.
Harry Braverman
The transformation of society into a Marketplace as a result of Capitalism.
Functionalist account.
Modernisation reduces the Extended family in America to Nuclear.
In feudal times production was done by the family, and the extended family fulfilled the function of providing security and assistance.
But Modernisation, coupled with ?
Urbanisation - the increase in the number of people living in the cities.
Braverman cont?
Increase in financial income - no need to produce food at home.
Working at home is not economical - driving women into factories.
Pressure of social custom - if an item is factory made it is better.
Skills deteriorate and material becomes scarce.
Psychological factor - Financial independence is desired. Status is through consumption no production.
Braverman cont?.
The shift from extended family to the nuclear family occurred as a result of the above factors. It happened amongst a move from dependence on others,
community, neighbours, friends etc?
All of this social interaction has been moved to the sphere of the market.
Emotional needs are channeled through the market.
This channeling of emotional needs varies from culture to culture. To what extent is this true in Singapore?
What Braverman is saying is that functions that the extended family used to fulfil are being fulfilled by the market.
Braverman cont?.
And that the nuclear family is nothing more that an economic arrangement,
as outlined by Engels above.
Biological - Babies are born in hospitals, money. But are sexual urges gratified outside the family?
Social Life - Pubs, clubs, discos, shopping malls, cinema, theatre, amusement arcades, money. But surely big social occasions are family centered, weddings, funerals, birthdays etc...
Production - you leave your home, your family to go to work. What about individuals who work from home, computer. Or small family run businesses.
Consumption - a unit of and for consuming goods and services. Braverman claims that this is the only function the family has in modern society and that it is losing this.
Braverman cont?.
For Braverman it is any sense of community that is under attack.
The home is merely a place to collect commodities, commodities that constantly advertise new products.
Market relations are replacing human relations.
Because Braverman follows the Marxist tradition he believes that it is Capital that is driving this change.
That the ?base?, the relations of production + the means of production are bringing about these changes.
He believes that Capitalism is anti Community and therefore anti-
family.
Engels and Marx attack the family under Capitalism. Or are they attacking Capitalism?s influence on the family.
When we asked at the beginning what Engels believed would replace the family does Braverman answer this question by merely defining his functions of the extended family and then outlining there demise?
Did this ideal type of family exist before capitalism. Did Engels wish for a return to the primitive communist stage?
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