The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State

What it is about

The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State is Engels’s classic argument that monogamous marriage as then practised was tied to property and to the control of women’s sexuality. Drawing on nineteenth-century anthropology (much of it later revised), he links household form to class and state. The book is kept as a historical text that shaped later debates on marriage and property, not as current ethnography and not as a couples guide. Readers should treat its empirical claims critically while noting its influence.

Questions it can answer

• How does Engels tie monogamous marriage as then practised to property and control of sexuality?
• Why is this kept as a historical text rather than current ethnography?
• How did the book shape later debates on marriage, class, and the state?

What you will not find

• Updated anthropological fieldwork replacing all of his sources
• Advice for negotiating a modern prenup
• A communication programme for married partners