Theorist Karl Marx wrote about Labor and Capitalism. His theory captures how capitalism is formed through the oppression of workers. I believe Marx excluded how capitalism also works in a family or household. He excluded how women and the roles they play with domestic labor as a housewife and mother fallsunder capitalism. I will apply a feminist views and compare how women’s roles to Marx theory of Estranged labor of alienation.
Women for thousands of years were seen as second class citizens. They were to get married and then become a housewife. A housewife is a women who manages the household. This includes, cooking, cleaning, bearing and caring the children.Ultimately just taking care of needs of the family and household. Women are not employed they perform housework duties. Their husbands on the other hand are the “breadwinners” they are employed and take care of the financial means of the family. The social norm was for men to go to work and bring home money and the women to stay home and take care of everything in the household.
Marx used two terms to distinguishing those who held the power and those who didn’t. He used the term “Bourgeoisie” to describe the owners of business that profit from the labor. And he also used the term “Proletarian” to describe a worker that helped the production. I believe that women play some kind of way into capitalism as the proletarian by performing housework duties and the husbands are the “Bourgeoisie” who benefit from it. The first type of alienation is the estrangement of the product of the work. For ahousewife this when everything she does contributes to everything outside the household. For example reproducing children. At the end the children will grow up and contribute to the labor work. The mother raises these children for someday to work. Even though she has no idea what it is like to work outside the household. The second form of alienation is “the estrangement of the worker from the activity of production”. Which mean the proletarian works only because to survive but this motivation of theirs ends up benefiting the bourgeoisie. In this case using the housewife she performs all the duties in the household in order to keep the husband happy. It benefits the husband for the wife to be at home and not working outside of the household because all the house duties are completed. And when he gets back from work he does not need to take care of anything at the house. The third form of alienation is “species-being,” which means the proletarian feels estranged form his or her own identity. Work has taken over and there is no longer any personal time for himself or herself. Regarding to the housewife her title as a housewife or mother has taken over her life. Her everyday duties has taken over her life. She has no personal time her time is spent in a secluded house where her job is. Housewives become robots and do not know what it is like without doing household chores. Their self-identity becomes nothing more than a “housewife” she is unenlightened by all other hobbies she could do outside of the housework. Then there’s the fourth form of alienation is“estrangement of man to man.” This is when the worker feels that his or her work is not theirs it’s done for the bourgeois. He or she then starts to think at anytime they can be replaced. As for a housewife although all the items that she’s uses to cook and clean is bought by her working husband she feels that she should perform these duties. And if she doesn’t that she can be replaced by another women which means divorce.
Housewives and workers are the same. There is a head that controls all the power done by their work which is their husbands or the President of the company. The four stages express how this not only works outside the household this also happens in the household. Capitalism exist everywhere in society. Marx is a theorist that looks at Labor and Capitalism in a macro view but he excluded the women’s views. Now I understand he wrote this theory in the 1800’s but I still think he forgot or should have mentioned women’s duties. He could have easily captured this by the women personal experiences in their roles as housewives, He would have seen how estrangement of labor and alienation also happens in household environments.
Women for thousands of years were seen as second class citizens. They were to get married and then become a housewife. A housewife is a women who manages the household. This includes, cooking, cleaning, bearing and caring the children.Ultimately just taking care of needs of the family and household. Women are not employed they perform housework duties. Their husbands on the other hand are the “breadwinners” they are employed and take care of the financial means of the family. The social norm was for men to go to work and bring home money and the women to stay home and take care of everything in the household.
Marx used two terms to distinguishing those who held the power and those who didn’t. He used the term “Bourgeoisie” to describe the owners of business that profit from the labor. And he also used the term “Proletarian” to describe a worker that helped the production. I believe that women play some kind of way into capitalism as the proletarian by performing housework duties and the husbands are the “Bourgeoisie” who benefit from it. The first type of alienation is the estrangement of the product of the work. For ahousewife this when everything she does contributes to everything outside the household. For example reproducing children. At the end the children will grow up and contribute to the labor work. The mother raises these children for someday to work. Even though she has no idea what it is like to work outside the household. The second form of alienation is “the estrangement of the worker from the activity of production”. Which mean the proletarian works only because to survive but this motivation of theirs ends up benefiting the bourgeoisie. In this case using the housewife she performs all the duties in the household in order to keep the husband happy. It benefits the husband for the wife to be at home and not working outside of the household because all the house duties are completed. And when he gets back from work he does not need to take care of anything at the house. The third form of alienation is “species-being,” which means the proletarian feels estranged form his or her own identity. Work has taken over and there is no longer any personal time for himself or herself. Regarding to the housewife her title as a housewife or mother has taken over her life. Her everyday duties has taken over her life. She has no personal time her time is spent in a secluded house where her job is. Housewives become robots and do not know what it is like without doing household chores. Their self-identity becomes nothing more than a “housewife” she is unenlightened by all other hobbies she could do outside of the housework. Then there’s the fourth form of alienation is“estrangement of man to man.” This is when the worker feels that his or her work is not theirs it’s done for the bourgeois. He or she then starts to think at anytime they can be replaced. As for a housewife although all the items that she’s uses to cook and clean is bought by her working husband she feels that she should perform these duties. And if she doesn’t that she can be replaced by another women which means divorce.
Housewives and workers are the same. There is a head that controls all the power done by their work which is their husbands or the President of the company. The four stages express how this not only works outside the household this also happens in the household. Capitalism exist everywhere in society. Marx is a theorist that looks at Labor and Capitalism in a macro view but he excluded the women’s views. Now I understand he wrote this theory in the 1800’s but I still think he forgot or should have mentioned women’s duties. He could have easily captured this by the women personal experiences in their roles as housewives, He would have seen how estrangement of labor and alienation also happens in household environments.