A Study Of Women’s Emancipation In The Origin Of The Family,Private Ownership And The State

The Origins of the Family,Private Ownership and the State(hereinafter referred to as Origins)is regarded as a classic work of Marxist theory of women’s emancipation and an anthropological substantiation of the materialist conception of history in the early primitive human society.Engels systematically expounds the idea of women’s emancipation,which is of great significance for enriching the Marxist theory of women’s emancipation and guiding the cause of women’s emancipation in the world.Based on the scientific perspective of the materialist conception of history,i.e.,the ultimate role of the production of the means of life,this paper analyzes the relevant theories in Origins,and analyzes the theoretical demands,specific contents and contemporary values of Engels’ ideas on women’s emancipation.In the first part,the theoretical background of women’s emancipation in Origins is analyzed.Views of the three major theorists of utopian socialism and anthropologists on women’s issues and family history are shown to lack a scientific understanding from the perspective of the materialist conception of history.Marx’s Anthropological Notebooks have not yet completed the prehistoric substantiation of the materialist conception of history.Kautsky,a party insider,has a deep-rooted misconception of the bourgeois patriarchal family.To break the erroneous view of the eternal domination of men,Engels correctly expressed in Origins an understanding of the women’s issue from the perspective of the materialist conception of history,thus transcending the existing ideological materials and pointing out the realistic path for women to achieve emancipation.In the second part,the idea of women’s emancipation in Origins is elaborated on.The submissive status of women undergoes a historical process from the sprouting of the dyadic family at the end of matriarchal society to the emergence of the patriarchal family during the patriarchal clan period,followed by the expansion and gradual emancipation of the monogamous family in the civilized era.From this evolutionary process,Engels analyze the root causes of women’s subordination and provide a historical basis for exploring the path of women’s emancipation.The development of the “production of the means of life” has resulted in the bondage of women to the “production of man himself”,which not only reveals the root cause of women’s subordination,but also provides a practical direction for the realistic path of women’s emancipation.Therefore,to achieve emancipation,women must take communism as the fundamental path,with participation in social production and the socialization of domestic work as effective ways.In the third part,the significance of the idea of women’s emancipation in Origins is explored.Origins,as Engels’ most concentrated work on women’s issues,has basically constructed a Marxist conception of women.Its interpretation of the materialist conception of history on women’s emancipation is of enduring value and significance.The basic ideas and principles of women’s emancipation embedded in it are not rigid dogmas,but have precious value,not only laying a solid theoretical foundation for the Marxist theory of women’s emancipation,but also providing a methodological guide for women’s emancipation in China.