Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State

In this provocative and now-classic work, Friedrich Engels explores the interrelated development of the family and the state from ancient society to the Victorian era. Drawing on new anthropological theories of his time, Engels argued that matriarchal communal societies had been overthrown by class society and its emphasis on private, not communal, property and monogamous, rather than polygamous, sexual organization. This historical development, Engels argued, constituted "the world-historic defeat of the female sex."

A masterclass in the application of materialist thought to history and anthropology, and touching on love, monogamy, property, and the development of the human, this landmark work is still foundational in Marxist and socialist feminist theory.

About the author

Frederick Engels was born in 1820, in the German city of Barmen. Brought up as a devout Calvinist he moved to England in 1842 to work in his father's Manchester textile firm. After joining the fight against the counter revolution in Germany in 1848 he returned to Manchester and the family business, finally settling there in 1850. In subsequent years he provided financial support for Marx and edited the second and third volumes of Capital. He died whilst working on the fourth volume in 1895.

Summary

The most influential theory of the origins of women's oppression in the modern era, in a beautiful new edition.

Product details

• Authors: Jennifer Doyle, Frederick Engels, Friedrich Engels
• Assisted by: Eleanor Burke Leacock (Introduction), Doyle Jennifer (Foreword)
• Publisher: Verso
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 20.04.2021
• EAN: 9781839761515
• ISBN: 978-1-83976-151-5
• No. of pages: 240
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Feminism & Feminist Theory, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Feminism & feminist theory, Social and cultural anthropology, Far-left political ideologies and movements, Feminism and feminist theory, Marxism & Communism