Matriarchy theory had a socialist pedigree before its 1920s revival

Evidence

Bachofen’s studies of matriarchal culture, which first appeared in the 186o’s, had suffered a relative eclipse in the two decades after his death in 1887. The anthropological speculations of Freud, for example, were primarily derived from Sir James Frazer’s studies of totemism. Before the decline in interest, however, Bachofen and other theorists of matriarchy, such as Lewis Morgan, were very influential in socialist circles; Engels’s The Origin of the Family (1884) and Bebel’s The Woman and Socialism (1883), for example, were both heavily indebted to them. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 334

Categorization

• XREF: Links to Engels’ and Bebel’s debt to Morgan and Bachofen — institutional lineage for how materialist family theory entered Marxism. — connects to: Matriarchal theory in the 1920s appealed across the political spectrum — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 335; Capitalism’s abundance paradoxically enables a return to matriarchal culture. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 340

Broader Connections

• Matriarchal theory in the 1920s appealed across the political spectrum #expands (0.85) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 335
• Capitalism’s abundance paradoxically enables a return to matriarchal culture. #complicates (0.72) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 340