Marxist Theory

Marx developed a theory stating, society progressed through a class conflict between the proletariat, the workers, and the bourgeois, the business owners and government leaders. Conflict theory states that capitalist societies are built on the conflict between social classes. In our Sociology course on Women's studies, Marxist theory argues that a society's economic structure is the primary determinant of other social relations, such as gender. Marxist feminism appeared in the late 1960's in retaliation to the masculine bias in the Marxist social theory. Both Marxist feminism agreed with liberal feminism that women are being dominated by men and are prevented from full participation in all aspects of society. The reason why women are primarily being seen as dominated by capital and secondarily by men, is why the gender division of labor is viewed as the product of the class division of labor. The main strategy for change is the transformation from a capitalist to a democratic socialist society.