Engels for Our Times

Gender, Social Reproduction, and Revolution

Abstract

"It is surprising," Marnie Holborow writes, "how often in Marxist accounts of women's oppression Frederick Engels is overlooked." In responding to this gap in analysis, Holborow examines his influential work, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, finding his observations on gender roles and social reproduction under capitalism—and their expressions based on class—are not only astute for Engels's time, but very much for ours as well.