Looking at Alienation from Marxism
Alienation according to Marx
Karl Marx has various elements to his ideologies of capitalism and he consistently contrasts a capitalist society to that of an ideal communist one to show class conflicts, one vital concept that Marx outlines in his findings is Alienation and he uses this to highlight the futility that lies within the capitalist society. This essay focuses on this concept, discusses its significance and explains why Marx thought of it as important, using relevant examples.
Alienation is grounded as a social structure and is the process of which workers find themselves experiencing under the conditions of capitalism. According to Karl Marx people, specifically workers, lose control of the many aspects in their lives (Spicer,2006,41). Marx explains that workers “lose” themselves while manufacturing products for the bourgeoisie, normally the proletariat (working class) are the ones who make goods but they never own the means of production, as such, they never reap the awards of their hard work like enjoy the benefit of profits, for instance. Marx also described Alienation as the distortion of human nature where he feels that the worker is overpowered by the capitalist (Ritzer,2000). Alienation has different perspectives and components to it, in this sense Alienation can be explained and experienced differently.
This concept has components to it that help break it down. Firstly, because the worker doesn’t really work for himself but for the bourgeoisie for a small compensation, some form of agreement transpires between the capitalist and the worker, making it clear that all sorts of productive activities belong to the capitalist, this then isolates and alienates the worker from the means of productive activity. The worker is not only alienated from the latter but he is also alienated from the product he produces itself, the product made by the worker has no specific use or significance to him as it does not benefit him or fulfill any of his basic
Karl Marx has various elements to his ideologies of capitalism and he consistently contrasts a capitalist society to that of an ideal communist one to show class conflicts, one vital concept that Marx outlines in his findings is Alienation and he uses this to highlight the futility that lies within the capitalist society. This essay focuses on this concept, discusses its significance and explains why Marx thought of it as important, using relevant examples.
Alienation is grounded as a social structure and is the process of which workers find themselves experiencing under the conditions of capitalism. According to Karl Marx people, specifically workers, lose control of the many aspects in their lives (Spicer,2006,41). Marx explains that workers “lose” themselves while manufacturing products for the bourgeoisie, normally the proletariat (working class) are the ones who make goods but they never own the means of production, as such, they never reap the awards of their hard work like enjoy the benefit of profits, for instance. Marx also described Alienation as the distortion of human nature where he feels that the worker is overpowered by the capitalist (Ritzer,2000). Alienation has different perspectives and components to it, in this sense Alienation can be explained and experienced differently.
This concept has components to it that help break it down. Firstly, because the worker doesn’t really work for himself but for the bourgeoisie for a small compensation, some form of agreement transpires between the capitalist and the worker, making it clear that all sorts of productive activities belong to the capitalist, this then isolates and alienates the worker from the means of productive activity. The worker is not only alienated from the latter but he is also alienated from the product he produces itself, the product made by the worker has no specific use or significance to him as it does not benefit him or fulfill any of his basic
Bibliography: Draper, M. , Hagemeier, L., Nadasen, K. , Spicer, S and Thaver, L. 2006. X-kit Undergraduate. Cape Town: Pearson Haralombos, M and Holborn, M. 2000. Sociology 7th edition: Themes and Perspectives. Collins Educational Ritzer, G. 2000. Sociological Theory 5th edition. McGraw-Hill. New York