Marx Alienation
Karl Marx was one of the founding fathers of sociology. He ideas were highly influential in establishing the socialist movement. Marx was born in 1818 in Trier, Germany, to a German-Jewish family. In 1848, Marx co-wrote The Communist Manifesto, alongside his close friend, and fellow supporter Fredrich Engels. This is his most famous piece of work.
Marx’s main social theory was the alienation of the worker in a capitalist society.
From a Marxist perspective, the alienation of the worker discusses the limitations and loss of workers control over their work and lives due to the destruction of conscious creation.
Marx had four dimensions to his theory of alienation: Alienation of the product, alienation from productive activity or work itself, alienation from other people, and alienation from ‘species being’.
According to Marx, capitalism needed to be put to rest just like any other political oppression in order for a society’s emancipation to be complete. He believed that a society needed to be a political, economic and social democracy (Bramann, 2009).
The main problem with capitalism for Marx was that he saw ‘us’ as a society, separated within this capitalistic society, that there was a gap between ‘human essence’ and human existence, meaning what we are as human beings and how we are living in today’s society. Marx describes the ‘human essence’ to be social, creative, and productive (Marx, 43). His argument is that we’re not living as stated by this idea of ‘human essence’; therefore we are alienated in society.
The first level of alienation that Marx discusses is that of the worker from the product. Marx’s defines the act of production by saying that it is continuous, because a society is unable to stop production as long as it is still consuming (Marx, 711). The worker becomes a personal source of wealth for the owner of the workplace – the bourgeoisie. Marx said, “What we are is what we produce”, but under capitalism, the products that we create are
Marx’s main social theory was the alienation of the worker in a capitalist society.
From a Marxist perspective, the alienation of the worker discusses the limitations and loss of workers control over their work and lives due to the destruction of conscious creation.
Marx had four dimensions to his theory of alienation: Alienation of the product, alienation from productive activity or work itself, alienation from other people, and alienation from ‘species being’.
According to Marx, capitalism needed to be put to rest just like any other political oppression in order for a society’s emancipation to be complete. He believed that a society needed to be a political, economic and social democracy (Bramann, 2009).
The main problem with capitalism for Marx was that he saw ‘us’ as a society, separated within this capitalistic society, that there was a gap between ‘human essence’ and human existence, meaning what we are as human beings and how we are living in today’s society. Marx describes the ‘human essence’ to be social, creative, and productive (Marx, 43). His argument is that we’re not living as stated by this idea of ‘human essence’; therefore we are alienated in society.
The first level of alienation that Marx discusses is that of the worker from the product. Marx’s defines the act of production by saying that it is continuous, because a society is unable to stop production as long as it is still consuming (Marx, 711). The worker becomes a personal source of wealth for the owner of the workplace – the bourgeoisie. Marx said, “What we are is what we produce”, but under capitalism, the products that we create are
References: Bramann, J. (2009). Marx: Capitalism and Alienation. Retrieved from http://facultyfiles.frostburg.edu/phil/forum/Marx.htm Infoplease. (2011). Women 's Earnings as a Percentage of Men 's, 1951–2011. Retrieved from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/a0193820.html Khalek, R. (2011). 21st-Century Slaves: How Corporations Exploit Prison Labor. Retrieved from http://www.alternet.org/story/151732/21st-century_slaves%3A_how_corporations_exploit_prison_labor Marx, K. (2004). Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume 1 (Translated by Ben Fowkes). London, Penguin Publishers Marx, K. (1932). Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. Moscow, Progress Publishers