I’m fully on board with the idea that patriarchy serves the current power structure, but I struggle to put it easily into words.
I’m fully on board with the idea that patriarchy serves the current power structure, but I struggle to put it easily into words.
Paraphrasing Engels from The Origins of Family, Private Property, and the State: the patriarchal family creates a microcosm of capitalist social organization in the private sphere. The man takes the role of the bourgeoisie, the woman the proletariat. Capitalism reproduces itself by making the family, the atomic unit that populations are composed of, itself a capitalist organization.
Generalizing from that point, the subordination of non-men is a form of stratification that allows for more effective accumulation of capital. Federici argues this point in Caliban and the Witch, formulating that patriarchy reproduces the same kind of exploitation as primitive accumulation. IMO this theory jives really well with the Red Sails definition of fascism, with its dual aspects actually existing simultaneously.
I bet you’re already aware that Red Pen did a really good YouTube video on this. Actually it was literally his most recent video that led me to this question.
I had not heard about that, I didn’t know about this channel. I had just read (part of) Caliban and the Witch when Hexbear had the misogyny struggle sesh last year.
I found YouTube links in your comment. Here are links to the same videos on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Link 1:
Link 2:
That red sails article was a great read, thank you for sharing it.