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Chaplin Factory Alienation

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Chaplin Factory Alienation
A form of alienation is how the worker is related to the process of labor. In the Chaplin’s factory video, we can see Chaplin screwing something, but is unclear to see what he is specifically screwing since he works very fast and without stopping. The type of labor he performs is repetitive. Therefore, he acts like a robot and seems not to enjoy the work he is doing. In the line “What is animal becomes human and what is human becomes animal” (pp. 150), Marx emphasizes that most people work based on a mechanical process. In other words, workers become animals or robots since they don’t get to experience a direct connection with what they are producing. Workers do not control the process of their work because they do not own the means of production.

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