Books › Der Ursprung der Familie, des Privateigenthums und des Staats
Der Ursprung der Familie, des Privateigenthums und des Staats
Im Anschluss an Lewis H. Morgan’s Forschungen
First published 1900 · 394 pages
A sweeping, revolutionary deconstruction of the institutions we are taught to accept as natural.
What it feels like
Reading this foundational text feels like watching the walls of the status quo being methodically dismantled brick by brick. Engels guides the reader through a sweeping, evolutionary history of human social structures, maintaining a steady, analytical pace that occasionally flares into brilliant, polemical fire. The mood is intellectually rigorous and deeply revolutionary, steeped in the urgent belief that the oppressive structures of the present are neither natural nor eternal. The prose is dense and scholarly, yet driven by a profound moral clarity regarding the subjugation of women and the working class. It is a deeply satisfying read for those who love historical materialism, feminist theory, and the thrill of seeing the hidden scaffolding of society laid bare.
- Mood
- intellectually rigorous
- revolutionary
- historical
- urgent
- Tone
- analytical
- polemical
- authoritative
- provocative
- earnest
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- the roots of inequality · patriarchal oppression · social evolution · the illusion of the natural order · historical materialism
- The writing
- Dense, structured, and historically grounded, yet punctuated by sharp, polemical rhetoric and revolutionary zeal.
- The arc
- Moves from a methodical deconstruction of accepted history to a fiery, visionary call for a radically liberated future.
- Who it's for
- Readers fascinated by Marxist theory, feminist history, and the structural origins of societal norms.
Content notes
- discussions of systemic misogyny
- historical oppression
- outdated anthropological terminology
About the book
The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884), was a provocative and profoundly influential critique of the Victorian nuclear family. Engels argued that the traditional monogamous household was in fact a recent construct, closely bound up with capitalist societies. Under this patriarchal system, women were servants and, effectively, prostitutes. Only Communism would herald the dawn of communal living and a new sexual freedom and, in turn, the role of the state would become superfluous.
Description from Open Library.
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