The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (in German: Der Ursprung der Familie, des Privateigentums und des Staats) is a work by Engels, who, under the influence of Marxism (Karl Marx was a comrade in the class struggle and a great friend), rescues the materialist analysis of the development of civilization from the beginning of time.

In it, the author classifies the types of family as:

-consanguineous family; (marriage of brothers and sisters, carnal and collateral, within a group)

-Punaluan family; (collective marriage of groups of brothers and sisters, carnal and collateral, within a group)

-syndiasmic family;

-monogamous family: (union of a single couple, with the spouses living together exclusively).

These three forms correspond respectively to the Malay (G=P=X), Turanian or Ghanowian (G =PX) and Aryan (GPX) systems.

The book is an in-depth study based on the field discoveries of Lewis Henry Morgan and his book Ancient Society on the gens of the Native Americans of the Iroquois nation who were adopted by the Senecas.

The book also demonstrates the passage from matriarchalism or primitive communism to patriarchalism, correlating with the beginning of private property, which in turn correlates with the beginning of the state.