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junyan's review against another edition
5.0
私有制的诞生与发展伴随着妇女家务服务的私人化以及妇女从社会大生产的脱离。现代的个体家庭建立在公开或隐蔽的家务奴隶制之上。而妇女解放的先决条件是一切妇女重新回到公共事业中去，要达到这一点就必须消除个体家庭作为社会基本经济单位的属性。废除婚姻制度、消除私有制才能实现真正的妇女解放。
xanderman001's review
5.0
Ironically, in some ways, this serves as a better introduction to anti-duhring than utopian and scientific. Bourgeois academics and feminists will always criticize thus book for some anthropological arguments that engels made and Engel's faults as a person and just ignore the validity of his Dialectical arguments that explains the contradictions of early capitalist society, which was built on the backs of slaves; And how this evolution from the late stages of barbarism form the framework for the internal contradictions within the dialectic of capitalist society. But in academia we can't have objective truths because then that would make the academics and the liberal arts as a whole obsolete. So instead we must conjur up meaningless platitudes about "cultural constructs" and point out pointless facts about Engels as a person rather than Engels as a philosopher and Socialist. But I would still read utopian and scientific first to any new socialists because this book has some of the more difficult language in the Marxist canon.
mimissyouuu's review
5.0
revisiting fundamental texts, good GOD engels spends so long talking about anthropology i was so bored i'm sorry...... overall still extremely useful and i definitely see the seeds of his thinking in some of the most prominent marxist feminists i follow
antony_monir's review
3.0
This classic book by Engels aims to study the origin of the family and the state. It is based on sociological research by Morgan. I see this book as a very interesting look at the way we organize our society. It is true that people have always lived in family but what has changed with time is what constitutes a family. Nowadays, most western societies see the nuclear family as the “family” while everything else is “extended”. It didn’t always use to be that way and the reasons for these changes are what Engels looks at in this book. Supposedly, the accumulation of wealth brought about by improvements in the modes of production led to men (males) desiring to bequeath their belongings to their blood children. This requires them to be certain of the identity of their kids so that they do not raise a child that isn’t their own which would inherent their things. This leads to the creation of the monogamous nuclear family with its norms. According to Engels, this is the major cause for the conditions that women have historically suffered as they have become confined to the household and put in a position of serfdom with respect to the breadwinner, the husband. Supposedly then, the state arises from the need to protect the precarious conditions in which wealth can prosper. Therefore, the state is inherently an instrument of oppression. Now, this book is controversial and many sociologists disagree with the work of Morgan (and Engels). This may very well be the case that they are wrong. But I believe this book’s value comes from its methods. It is important for us to be critical of everything around us, including such concrete institutions as the family and the state. It is so obvious to us that a family consists of the parents and the children and that’s it. But Engels raises the question of whether or not this has always been the case. Many people believe that since they have seen a certain form of life their whole lives, this must be the only option available. Engels shows that this way of thinking is not correct. We can and should be critical of our institutions. Throughout this book Engels argues his case very well. But now, onto the negatives. In classic Engels style, the writing is boring to the point of wanting to go to sleep. I know that this book is old but there are old books that are not boring. Engels is just boring. It’s true. Also, the book is very dated and it is heteronormative (which is expected when talking about family and blood relatives but still). Also, it is really only the first few chapters and the final chapter that matter for this book because the middle chunk is just a very boring section. It focuses on the history of the Greek, Roman, and German states but it doesn’t advance any new ideas and is just there for people who love history, I guess. Finally, the conclusion that the dissolution of family will lead to the end of prostitution seems to be incorrect as sex work has existed for the longest time before monogamy and will probably continue to exist. I would love to see a book like this redone with modern data and research methods to confirm (or deny) Engels’ ideas. In conclusion, this is an interesting book that you should read if you’re interested in marxist theory or care about the works of 19th century sociology. Otherwise, a summary will give you the same benefits as reading this, probably with less boredom. 3/5.
noahmarcuswhite's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.25
Sociology part bored me, but it’s just not my cup of tea. The second half was very good, though. Very interesting discussion on property and politics throughout history. I listened to the audiobook while working out and driving, so I still don’t know what the heck a gene is because I missed the part where they defined it
cebolla's review against another edition
4.0
Not bad for a commie. He seems to guess a bunch, he's a bit homophobic, and his obsession with Marx is weird, but I feel like I know more now than before I read the book