Alienation and Transmutation: The Standardized Pursuit of Family in Historical Logic

Abstract

Since Marx reduced the “sacred family” to the “secular family” and corrected the Hegelian inversion of the ethical structure of society, the theoretical critique of the family and the practical transformation of the family have become one of the main tasks of Marxism. The core idea of “elimination of the family” is, in a narrow sense, a critique of the abstract alienation of the family in capitalism, and, in a broader sense, a philosophical-social-scientific reflection on “where the family is going”. Nevertheless, the limited vision of the future family under the production relations of the past does not stop the romantic imagination, and it is undoubtedly legitimate and justified for us to take this opportunity to conduct a thorough reflection or questioning on the issues before and after the “elimination” from a new historical starting point.