A Comparison of Feminism and the Role of the Family in World System and Marxist Theory.

This paper will explore the differences in the role of women and the family between both traditional and modern interpretations Marxist theory and world system theory in order to gain an in depth understanding of both. Marxist theory will be analyzed from the work of Marx in addition to the writings of other authors and texts which have interpreted and elaborated upon his writings, such as Engels. I will then compare and contrast that body of work with the writings of the seminal theorists behind world-system theory including Wallerstein, Shannon, and Ward, with a concentration on the similarities and differences between classical Marxist theories regarding the origin of the family, how Marxist theory regards social stratification in terms of gender and the family, and how those same issues are interpreted by world system theorists. The objective of this paper is to gain a better understanding of feminism and the role of the family within world-system theory by analyzing how it is both analogous to and dissimilar from the interpretation of these issues within classical Marxist theory. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]