The Pre-1970s Politicized Family

Abstract

The previous Chapter described and positioned apolitical approaches to the family. Unlike apolitical frameworks, politicized approaches are those that view the family, in the first instance, as a site of political and ideological activity. Of significance here are Marxist approaches, and relatedly, The Frankfurt School uptake and critique of the basic tenets of psychology and psychoanalysis. Feminist approaches, in all their theoretical diversity, also understand the family as the site of power relations and political struggle. These critical approaches to the family uncovered the connection between this social form, the social construction of identity, and larger political and economic processes. These approaches do not follow on temporally from apolitical theories of the family—their distinction lies in the way in which they view the role of family and its link to broader social, economic and political processes.