the origin of the family by friedrich engels

For example, Engels envisions the most ancient state of human society as being based in “savagery” which is a time when goods are taken from the earth but there is no real conception of economy or private property. He separates stages of growth in human culture into historically linear categories. The strong emphasis on women as leaders and the heads of the lodges is a basis y which Engels concluded that ancient societies were more likely to have lived under communal conditions in a matriarchy rather than in a property centered culture arranged into families.Įngels uses the assertions offered by Morgan as a jumping-off point for his own ideas about the deep origins of contemporary society. The way that property was passed from generation to generation in the tribe was through the women. In order to support his thesis, Morgan cited the kind of culture that was practiced by the Iroquois tribe who lived together in communal lodges that were controlled by women. This means that, for Engels and Morgan, ancient people were not grouped into families as they are in contemporary times, but assembled in clans that were headed by women. Engels believed that ancient societies were founded on matriarchies. Morgan to set forth hsi own hypothesis about the roots of society.

Engels uses research conducted by Lewis H. The way that Engels begins his argument is to describe the cultural realities of a tribal society, specifically the Iroquois tribe. What is clear is that his argument as set forth in this book is cogent. Engels’ prediction of social and economic revolution may or may not be specious. Although controversy persists to this day regarding the authenticity of the anthropological research and evidence used by Engels, the basic arguments made in the book have exerted an important influence. As such, the thesis that is put forward in the book is that the specific systems of human society that exist in the present can be traced back to radically different systems of the past, and simultaneously used as predictive models for radically changed systems of the future.

The book also describes a prediction of what kind of political and economic changes Engels believed might take place in the future as society continued to evolve. Morgan (1884) makes an anthropological case for the development of concepts such as the State, the family, and private property. Relation of Global Warming and Extreme Weather Conditionįriedrich Engels’ study The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State: in the light of the researches of Lewis H. Power Point Presentation With Speaker Notes

The origin of the family by friedrich engels