Karl Marxist Feminist Analysis

Although highly influential to solidifying the structure of capitalism, Karl Marx blatantly failed to analyze the role of a significant group within society: women. Since Marx emphasized a focus on capitalism as a whole through the underlying economic laws of society, he was unsuccessful in considering the role of interrelated groups past his predominant conflict theory.The oppression of women through this fault has called for the rise of various distinctive feminists groups, such as the lesser known Marxist feminists. These feminists contribute to a new sociological perspective of feminism by analyzing the fault in Marx’s theory, recognizing the position of women among capitalist America, and interpreting his principal theory as a basis to …show more content…
Because of this economic analysis, he saw the division of society according to monetary status, resulting in two conflicting groups: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. He believed that this division within society was on the “basis of the ownership or control of productive property” (Marx 93).
According to Marx, the proletariats are exploited by the bourgeoisie since the bourgeoisie have exclusive control over the means of production. This mistreatment of the proletarians was a direct result of Marx’s conflict theory and the idea that the dominant group, the bourgeoisie, will mistreat the subordinate class to maintain control of the power and means of production. The alienation of the workers then leads to a workers’ revolution which then results in what Marx would consider the solution to Capitalism, a classless …show more content…
It is significant that the study of the different forms of the sexual hierarchy be correlated to both reproduction and the modes of production. Marxist feminists argue that “patriarchy cannot be understood unless the nature of capitalist power is incorporated into its conceptualization” (Diamond 72) maintaining Marx’s emphasis on capitalism and the means of production. This extension of Marx’s theory from a feminist lens suggests that our views of the changing patriarchy in society is influenced by capitalism which doesn’t sync with this theme. The capitalist patriarchy in modern society is constantly developing as the “world of work is no longer exclusively man 's domain and the world of the family is no longer exclusively women 's” (Diamond 78). As a preamble to their work, the transformation of social conditions, such as the developing patriarchy in society provides a framework to form a structure of capitalism and patriarchy as a mutual