What contribution does the function and role of the family have to capitalism?

One function of the family which may serve capitalism is the maintenance of middle-class wealth through inheritance, and the passing on of middle class ideas, attitudes, norms and values. Inheritance and the passing of wealth and property from one generation to another within the wealthy capitalist class allows them to retain control of their wealth by ensuring that it stays solely within the families of the wealthy middle class. Engels argued that the family has a clear economic function for capitalism, by ensuring that wealth remains in the hands of the bourgeoisie middle class. Family relations facilitate inheritance and therefore when a member of the middle class dies, their children inherit their wealth and consequently this wealth stays within the middle class. As a result, they stay in the position as the dominant ruling class, thus maintaining a capitalist society. Additionally, by passing on norms, attitudes, ideas and values of the middle class between generations, the middle class can continue to exploit the working class in order to extract a profit by maintaining and embracing their privileged position and superiority. Thus, they retain the wealth and values needed to dominate over the proletariats in the working class- something that Marxists harshly view and criticise as it replicates and reinforces class inequalities. Marxists believe that the inheritance of wealth means that the power stays within the hands of the middle class, thus enabling them to dominate and rule the working class, and reproduce class inequalities.