SYA4110 – Development of Sociological Thought
Thursday, September 18th 2008- Agenda
Friedrich Engels: The Patriarchical Family
Freidrich Engels
-Marx’s friend & student
-was the first sociological theory of gender stratification
Stages in the Development of Family:
1. Complete sexual promiscuity
2. Incest between parents and children prohibited
3. Incest prohibition extended to siblings
4. “Pairing Marriage” (monogamy)
-Stage theory was like that of Comte & Marx: moved from primitive to civilized
-The rise of sexual domination of men over women was brought about by an economic change
-overthrew matrilinealism for patrilineal descent
-patrilineal descent led to monogamy
-since a man wanted to pass his property to his children
-with this shift, women were excluded from the public economic sphere and consigned to household labor
-men also gained complete control of politics and excluded women from religion and public culture
“… the first class oppression coincides with that of the female sex by the male”
-similar to capitalism: women appear to have freedom to choose whether or not to marry, but in reality economic necessity forces them into subjugation to husbands who have the income to support them.
-his solution?
-modern Marxist interpretation:
Women are exploited by the capitalist system, even when they are not directly employed by it. Women contribute to capitalist profits. From this point of view, the solution to sexual inequality is the overthrow of the capitalist system - and thereby change the economic base that fosters female exploitation.
Criticism of Engels' Theories
-doubtful there was ever society without incest taboo
-research now shows there was no universal sequence from matrilineal to patrilineal in cultures around the world
-women have moved into the workplace and it did not take the abolition of private property for it to happen
Durkheim and Weber do not have much to say about Gender, but Gilman and Cooper (in a couple of weeks) will.