Marx On Gender And The Family: A Critical Study

Heather Brown Ph.D. (2009), Purdue University, is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Westfield State University. Her research interests are in modern and contemporary political thought especially involving the intersections of gender, race and class.

"This short, comprehensive handbook will no doubt provide the basis for a new wave of feminist engagement with Marxism and is a clarion call for all those who regard themselves as Marxists to re-evaluate their ideological conceptions."— Barry Healy, Links: International Journal of Socialist RenewalOverall, from Marx on Gender and the Family emerges a dialectical Marxism, one that points to the beginnings of a unitary theory of gender and class. Noted throughout is that Marx did not systematically examine gender as a category and the aim of the book is not to try and construct one. Brown is not scared to highlight some of Marx’s failings, in particular when he falls back on prejudice or moralism when discussing the oppression of women … The most important aspect of the work is that in providing a systematic overview of the totality of Marx’s work on the topic, Brown is able to indicate openings for analysis that can construct the base for the redevelopment of a Marxist-feminist theory.—Jenny Morrison, International Socialist Group

• Acknowledgements1. IntroductionReevaluating and developing Marx for feminist theory todayOverview of the book2. The Early Writings on Gender and the FamilyThe 1844 ManuscriptsLabour and alienationGender in the 1844 ManuscriptsWomen’s alienation in capitalist societyModes of production and the course of historyAlienation, bourgeois morality and suicideRevisiting the nature/culture and man/woman dualismsConclusion3. Political Economy, Gender, and the ‘Transformation’ of the FamilyEngels’s ‘Principles of Communism’ in relation to gender and the familyThe Communist ManifestoNature and society in CapitalThe political economy of Capital, Volume IGender and the family in CapitalConclusion4. Marx’s Journalism and Political ActivitiesThe Preston strikes and women’s labourThe Bulwer-Lytton scandalWomen and the First InternationalMarx and the KugelmannsWomen and the Paris CommuneAfter the CommuneConclusion5. Patriarchy, Women’s Oppression and Resistance: Comparing Marx and Engels on Gender and the Family in Precapitalist SocietiesMarx’s notebooks and the history of The Origin of the FamilySeparating Marx from EngelsMarx’s notebooks in historical contextMorgan’s Ancient SocietyMarx’s notes on MorganEngels’s Origin of the Family, Private Property and the StateEngels’s uncritical acceptance of Morgan and Bachofen on women’s position in clan-societiesComparing Marx and Engels on gender6. The Family, the State and Property-Rights: The Dialectics of Gender and the Family in Precapitalist SocietiesMaine’s Lectures on the Early History of InstitutionsMarx’s notes on MaineMarx’s notebooks on Ludwig Lange’s Römische AlterthümerConclusion7. ConclusionEvaluating Marx’s work on gender and the family for todayReferencesIndex