Topic > Difference between Functionalism and Marxism - 1496

Some functionalists explain that the family is beneficial to individuals and amounts to keeping society running while Marxists argue that the family helps pass down private property and keeps wealth in the hands of individuals. (Phillip Jones) Frederick Engels observed in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State that “inheritance is central to the family” and that before the family was created we cared more for each other and shared moreover, in theory the family has divided us. On the other hand functionalists think that family helps emotionally and psychologically, Talcott Parsons and Emile Durkheim, two key figures of functionalist theory, believed in consensus theory. CT is an analogy of the human body that represents the functionalist vision of the nuclear family. (Giddens) While the husband is out earning money and putting food on the table for the family, his wife, children and home act as a "warm bath" taking away the stress with things like sex so that it is reinvigorated and ready for the near future. working day in which he is able to contribute to society. A key point made by Marxists is that the family absorbs workers' frustrations, they tend to agree that socialization is more about ideology and conditioning the working class to accept modes of conformity. While a worker might protest against his or her exploitation, ruling class ideology and capitalism distract workers with false conciseness, promoting certain values, forms of media such as TV programs, and consumerism. In his own words, Marx stated that "the bourgeoisie has stripped the family of its sentimental veil and has reduced the family relationship to a mere monetary relationship". (Communist Manifesto) Ideological state apparatuses such as family, religion, media and