Marx Arranged Labour

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.

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

Karl Marx is undeniably one of the most influential philosophical thinkers that emerged in the 19th century. His ideas were ignored during his time, however they’ve gained wide recognition in the years after his death and are still widely called upon today during many philosophical, social, and economic debates. Amongst his famous theories is his ideas on the morality of Capitalism as well as Socialism. However, a theory of his that reigns supreme in many different aspects of modern day society as well as the past is his theory of alienation. Marx’s feels that modern means of production under certain conditions could cause the collapse of the worker. They would ultimately loose control of their life as a result of losing control of their work. The four major works analyzed in class all seem to have a revolving major theme of alienation in some aspect that cripples man’s ability to be a productive and effective being in society. Candide by Voltaire, The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer, and The Colonizer and the Colonized by Albert Memmi all, in some way, effectively show the coupling theme of man’s alienation from society that reverts him to certain circumstances and in turn creates tension amongst the alienated man and the major portion of society that doesn’t endure alienation.

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.

Karl Marx believed that there are four aspects of a man's alienation that occur in a capitalist society. The product of labor, the labor process, our fellow human beings, and human nature are the four specific aspects of alienation that occur in a capitalist society.

Karl Marx stands out among other famous philosophers of the 19th century. He founded proactive theories, which called for political action as well as social change, rather than mere theoretical study. One of such theories is his theory of alienation found in his work “The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts” (1844), also known as “The Paris Manuscripts”. This theory explains how a capitalist socio-economic regime alienates the worker in four various levels. Marx defines alienation as the absence of meaning or self- realization in one’s life (Geras 26). This paper examines Marx’s views on labor alienation and its effects on humanity, his criticism of religion and its influences on his rejection of capitalism, as well as his concept of the human nature.

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

In the Manuscripts, Marx criticises capitalism chiefly for its dehumanising effect, the alienation of labour. As discussed earlier, for Marx alienation occurs in four different ways. These are,

In the novel "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway the character, Frederic Henry is a round and dynamic character. At the beginning of the book, he is a man looking for a woman who could reach his needs, which meant it could have been anyone who he laid eyes because he wanted no feelings attached. Strictly for pleasure. Where I am at now in the book, he has so far changed for the better. He has become more of a caring man, and he is involved in a serious relationship, one that has gone beyond the physical attraction between the two, and looks like it is reaching more of a stronger level.

In this essay Marx’s and Nietzsche’s philosophies on the term “alienation” will be analyzed first with explanations of both philosopher’s theories, then a contrast of said theories. Marx and Nietzsche both see most people as profoundly alienated, but for many different reasons. Marx’s theory of alienation comes from the class struggle between the bourgeoisie and proletariat, with the product of labor being the sole cause of alienation. Nietzsche observes that alienation is determined by a reactionary response to master morality, which is slave morality. The main clash between Marx and Nietzsche’s two theories of alienation is the way that the author interprets and perceives the cause and outcome of one’s alienation.

Marx believed that the more a person worked, the more alienated they felt. To Marx, “alienation consists of the lack of community, so people cannot see their work as contributing to a group of which they are members, since the state is not a real community” (Stevenson, 143). He also perceived money as a cause of alienation. Money is what drives people to be an active member in society, for example where they work. People must work to survive. Marx sees this as selling themselves to their job, which is a form of alienation. He then broke down alienation into subgroups. One type of alienation that Marx discussed was the isolation of man from himself. This is when a man “does not fulfil himself in his work but feels miserable, physically exhausted, and mentally debased” (Stevenson, 142). When a man cannot see how his work is contributing to society as a whole, he begins to lose motivation to

In the second theory of alienation, the worker is alienated from their labour, they work because they need to survive, their hard work was not paid off and they did not enjoy working overall; the false ideology connected with this is best described when the capitalist mode of production takes over a worker’s freedom by giving the worker long hours. The third alienation, is alienation from the workers’ self, the worker has been devalued and even seen as cheaper than the commodity they

The Alienation of Labor is split into four different categories which explain the relationship of Estrangement with having a capitalistic society and workers. The first category of Alienation of Labor comes from the product of labor, which can be interpreted as a few different things. “The relation of the worker to the product of labor as an alien object exercising power over him. This relation is at the same time the relation to the sensuous external world…” (Estranged Labor, 29-30).

    In Marx’s theory of alienation, Marx explains work on an assembly line by demonstrating the coercion of the dominant force in society which is the bourgeoisie towards the proletariats. Marx explains how in the current economic system of capitalism the workers not only experience impoverishment, but they also suffer an alienation from the world. He explains how in an assembly line workers are undermined and they hand over their essence as human beings to the factory owners which are the wealthy capitalists. Marx shows  how humanity is held back by the constraints of capitalism, and uses his theory of alienation and the assembly line to show the poor human condition that the economic system leads to.

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