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After a period of low interest lasting nearly four decades, matriarchal theory has again become subject to interest in the social sciences. This idea originated in the speculative writings of the nineteenth century, including those of Johan Bachofen and Lewis Henry Morgan. It later influenced the ideas of Erich FROMM and Wilhelm Reich, two writers attempting to synthesize the achievements of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. Most recently, Mary Daly (Beyond the Father, Boston: Beacon Press, 1973) and other feminist and utopian writers have revived matriarchal theories, both as theories of prehistory and as theories of how society can be reconstructed in the future. The use of matriarchy as an image of hope appears to be its most important function in contemporary social thought.