The Family, Sex Marriage In England by Lawrence Stone Condition of Working Class in England by Engels free essay sample

Compares works on causes meaning of radical changes in home male-female relations in England, 1500-1800. Lawrence Stone, in The Family, Sex, and Marriage in England, 1500-1800, argues that the causes of radical changes in the home and in relations between men and women in England during those three centuries were manifold. Stone also argues that while some of the transformations were negative, most were positive and were precursors of elements which exist in free societies today. These conclusions on the part of Stone stand in stark contrast to the ideas of Friedrich Engels. In The Condition of the Working Class in England, Engels argues that the changes were almost wholly negative, and that the cause was singularthe dehumanizing, exploitative and alienating impact of capitalism in its early stages. In terms of accuracy, Stones thesis is more convincing than Engels, for the wide variety and dramatic nature of the changes