Marx And Alienation

In the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Karl Marx identifies a dichotomy that is created and bolstered by the capitalist mode of production. In this mode of production, the dichotomy presents itself in a division of labor that forms of two kinds of people: capitalists, the owners of the means of production, and laborers, those who work under the domain of the capitalist. Marx harshly criticizes this mode of production, arguing that it exploits the laborer and estranges him from himself and his fellow man. According to Marx, this large-scale estrangement is achieved through a causal chain of effects that results in multiple types of alienation, each contingent upon the other. First, Marx asserts that under capitalism, the laborer is alienated from his product of labor. Second, because of this alienation from his product, man is also alienated then from the act of production. Third, man, in being alienated both from his product and act of production, is alienated from his species essence, which Marx believes to be the ability to create and build up an objective world. Finally, after this series of alienations, Marx arrives at his grand conclusion that capitalist labor causes man to be alienated from his fellow man. In this paper, I will argue in support of Marx’s chain of alienations, arriving at the conclusion that laborers, under the capitalist mode of production, cannot retain their species essence and thus cannot connect with one another, and exist in a world

Man no longer exercises his essence as a species-being in productive labour for the good of others, but on the contrary, he becomes detached from his essence and the product of his labour is abstracted as a means to produce for the sake of capital. In this sense man becomes reduced to nothing but a machine; the more capital the product of his labour acquires, the more the worker will be encouraged to produce through the influence of wages. The appeal of this profit for the worker sustains his alienated state by further sacrificing his ‘body and spirit’ for the sake of his wages;

Alienation from oneself. This type of Alienation robs a person of all they can be and contribute in the world. As stated Marx believed that what we contribute to the world in terms of our work is part of our species essence or what makes us human. What we the people contribute to the world is a manifestation of our creativity and creativity is an essential part of human nature and our product based society. Many people are now alienated from their very human nature. People lose their sense of self and who they are. Based on Marx people live to work rather than work being an extension of our being. And in the end, we are not in control of our own

because he is not the recipient of the product he creates. As a result labor is

Karl Marx uses two German terms known as “Entäussern” and “Entfremden” [Grimwade, R. (2014, September). Lecture presented through PowerPoint. St. John’s University, Queens, NY.] . The latter meaning estrangement, while Entaussem meaning alienation. Both have a similar meaning and can be taken as synonyms but Karl Marx uses them differently to emphasis his points. The definition of alienation, “a withdrawing or separation of a person or a person 's affections from an object or position of former attachment” ("Alienation." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.), similar Marx states a definition of his own; “Labor 's realization is its objectification. In the conditions dealt with by political economy this realization of labor appears as loss of reality for the workers;

According to Marx, the first type of alienation is the estrange of the labor from the product of his work. This alienation occurs because the labor invests his work into the object yet the capitalism appropriates the object from him, he becomes alienated to the object that he creates. The second alienation, as Marx mentions in his first manuscript, is the estrangement of the worker from the producing activity since the labor’s work does not belong to himself, but it is simply a means of satisfaction of human needs. Karl Marx then illustrates the third form of alienation, which is the labor’s alienation from species being. Transforming inorganic matter to create objects is the one of the main identities of human being, yet, the structure of capitalism estranges the labor from the essential identity and species being.

Marx’s theory of alienation is concerned primarily with social interaction and production; he believes that we are able to overcome our alienation through human emancipation.

As human beings, one of the most fundamental aspects of our existence, according to philosopher Karl Marx, is the act of work. More specifically, it is the idea that work fulfills human being’s essence. Work, for Marx, is a great source of joy, but only when the worker can see themselves in the work they do, and when said worker wants to partake in the work they are performing. In the capitalist identity, workers are “a class of labourers, who live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labour increases capital” (Marx and Engel, 1946, pg. 116). Labourers were simply described as “a commodity” (Marx and Engel, 1946, pg. 117) by the ruling class; they are but pieces of a large, intricate gear system, all for the profit of those above them. In this, the worker loses touch with their essence. This concept is referred to, more or less, as alienation. Alienation is a form of separation of how one sees themselves, and how one sees themselves in what they do. Alienation, in many ways, relates to the idea of false consciousness. False consciousness, for Marx, revolves around the idea of misleading society; It is an ideological way of thinking in which no true perception of the world can be achieved. Both alienation and false consciousness delve into the notion of what constitutes true reality. Alienation describes how those that are controlled by the ruling class are subject to a form of disconnect, and false consciousness is a hierarchal idea in

The most important part is that, the final outputs of production belonged to the producers, whether sell them or not was totally depended on them. But in Marx’s time, factory owners, which mean capitalists, paid money to workers in return of labor force to carry out productions. Let aside the boring rigid production actions, the products belonged to the factory owners, not the workers. Workers had no control over the products and what products should they produce. So, Marx stated that this was one of the four aspects of alienation.

Marx’s theory of alienated labour is structured around a class-based system. It is vital to acknowledge that Marx’s evaluation of the capitalist system is based focused the Industrial Revolution a century and a half ago, and therefore must be kept somewhat in that context. Within Marx’s simplified capitalist society model, one class of people own and control the raw materials and their means of production. They are referred to as capital, bourgeoisie, or the owning class. The capitalist does not just own the means of production, but also all the items produced. By virtue of their ownership of production property they receive an income and earn a living from the operations of their factories and shops. The owning class owns the productive resources, though they do not usually operate the production means themselves.

The first aspect to cover is Marx’s own idea of alienation. The concept of alienation is when people feel that the world has become foreign to them. This connects to this passage as some of the groups of oppressed feel alienated as they no longer work to live but live to work, resulting in a class revolution. A classic example is the Winnipeg Riots where the workers felt that they were no longer living a life for themselves but for their work which resulted in them raising up against their oppressors. Being alienated, these workers had no say in what they were doing as well as being restricted from all forms of creativity within their jobs which resulted in a heavily oppressed group. As well as alienation, Marx’s concept of the labour theory of value plays a major role in why the oppressed revolt. The labour theory of value argues that the economic value of a good or service is determined solely by the total amount labour and effort required to produce it (usually in terms of time). This relates to the above passage as Marx used this concept to support his theory that capitalism exploits the labourers of society. He asks if the theory is true then does that not mean all profits of a product should go directly to the labourer (oppressed) instead of going through the boss (oppressor) first. Lastly, Marx believes that production is what society revolves around with systems such as education and religion being more superfluous and only a means of legitimization for production. This connects to the above passage as all groups of oppressors are the ‘bosses’ who manipulate the oppressed through their work and means to a living. Capitalists use their ideology to convince the masses that this is the best way to live, this way the oppressed don’t realise that they’re being exploited and

The concept of alienation plays a significant role in Marx's early political writing, especially in the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1848, but it is rarely mentioned in his later works. This implies that while Marx found alienation useful in investigating certain basic aspects of the development of capitalist society, it is less useful in putting forward the predictions of the collapse of capitalism. The aim of this essay is to explain alienation, and show how it fits into the pattern of Marx's thought. It will be concluded that alienation is a useful tool in explaining the affect of capitalism on human existence. In Marx's thought, however, the usefulness of alienation it is limited to explanation. It does not help in

THE TERM "alienation" in normal usage refers to a feeling of separateness, of being alone and apart from others. For Marx, alienation was not a feeling or a mental condition, but an economic and social condition of class society--in particular, capitalist society.

Topic: One of the essential elements to Marx’s alienation concept is that of people or workers being alienated from each other under capitalism, it is still relevant in explaining the problems of the modern world.

Individuals of the working class are also affected by what Karl Marx refers to as “Work Alienation.” “Work Alienation is an outcome job holders face when they lose control over either the work process, the product of their labor, or both (194).” Generally, this means a lack of satisfaction in their jobs and what they do. Work Alienation occurs when only simple mundane tasks are required of workers. A good example of this is factory jobs. With the rise of technology, less and less work is being required of workers and machinery is taking on most of the responsibility. Often leaving workers to only do simple tasks or preform “button pushing work.” Marx described this phenomenon as man becoming “an appendage of the machine (194).”