ABSTRACT
BARRETT and MACKINTOSH provide a Marxist feminist analysis of the family, arguing that the patriarchal nuclear family serves the interests of capitalism by ensuring the reproduction of the relations of production, as well as serving the means of men. DELPHY and LEONARD reject the Marxist feminist analysis, and provide a theoretical analysis of their own from the materialist feminist perspective. They argue that the family is an economic system-a system of labour relations in which men benefit from and exploit the work of women. In modern western society, they indicate, the family is the main site for the reproduction of patriarchy.
