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Book Synopsis
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.

The Origin of the Family, Private Property and

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A Paperback / softback by Friedrich Engels, Jennifer Doyle, Eleanor Burke Leacock

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    View other formats and editions of The Origin of the Family, Private Property and by Friedrich Engels

    Publisher: Verso Books
    Publication Date: 17/08/2021
    ISBN13: 9781839761515, 978-1839761515
    ISBN10: 1839761512
    Also in:
    Far-left political ideologies and movements Feminism and feminist theory Social and cultural anthropology Books by Friedrich Engels

    Description

    Book Synopsis
    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.

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