Marxism as a part of the androcentric tradition: The feminist superstructure and the androcentric base

Abstract

Androcentrism continues to be the basis for modern thinking, and the comprehension of its manifestations in the philosophical tradition appears to be a necessary step to change this situation. The purpose of this work is to analyze the theory of K. Marx for its androcentrism, to identify its significant provisions based on it. The analysis is built around testing how the “general” statements of Marx reflect women’s experience, how they are woven into the whole of the theory and how much they are substantiated by it. It was revealed that, firstly, Marx could not substantiate the position that the roots of oppression of women lie in the mode of production, since he did not consider the fact of higher pay for male labor to be significant, taking it for granted. Secondly, he did not consider the exploitation of “free” female labor in the family significant, and considered the primary division of labor within its framework to be natural. Thirdly, Marx was unable to detect the transformation of female bodies into a resource for men as a condition of capitalism because he did not see a problem in male control over female birth ability. The theory of Karl Marx, thus, is a part of the androcentric tradition and should be considered in science as such.

Keywords

• marxism
• androcentrism
• division of labor
• original accumulation
• reproductive labor
• family
• family wage