Marx's Theory of Alienation
According to Marx, alienation is a systemic result of Capitalism. Marx's theory of alienation is founded upon his observation that, within the Capitalist Mode of Production, workers invariably lose determination of their lives and destinies by being deprived of the right to conceive of themselves as the director of their actions, to determine the character of their actions, to define their relationship to other actors, to use or own the value of what is produced by their actions. Workers never become autonomous, self-realized human beings, but are directed and diverted into goals and activities dictated by the bourgeoisie, who own the means of production in order to extract from workers the ...
Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers
|
production as human beings. Each of us would have in two ways affirmed himself and the other person. 1) In my production I would have objectified my individuality, its specific character, and therefore enjoyed not only an individual manifestation of my life during the activity, but also when looking at the object I would have the individual pleasure of knowing my personality to be objective, visible to the senses and hence a power beyond all doubt. 2) In your enjoyment or use of my product I would have the direct enjoyment both of being conscious of having satisfied a human need by my work, that is, of having objectified man’s essential nature, and of having thus created an object corresponding to the need of another man’s essential nature. ... Our products would be so many mirrors in which we saw reflected our essential nature.'" (Comment on James Mill)
In the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 Marx identifies four types of alienation in labor under capitalism.[1][2] ...
Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.
Already a member? Login
|
framework, the exchange value that could be generated by the sale of products and returned to workers in the form of profits is absconded with by the managerial and Capitalist classes.
Alienation of the worker from working, from the act of producing itself. This kind of alienation refers to the patterning of work in the Capitalist Mode of Production into an endless sequence of discrete, repetitive, trivial, and meaningless motions, offering little, if any, intrinsic satisfaction. The worker's labor power is commodified into exchange value itself in the form of wages. A worker is thus estranged from the unmediated relation to his activity via such wages. Aside from the limitation of ...
Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library.
Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports,
and research papers in 2 minutes or less.
|
CITE THIS PAGE:
Marx's Theory of Alienation. (2011, April 16). Retrieved April 19, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Marxs-Theory-of-Alienation/98071
"Marx's Theory of Alienation." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 16 Apr. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Marxs-Theory-of-Alienation/98071>
"Marx's Theory of Alienation." Essayworld.com. April 16, 2011. Accessed April 19, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Marxs-Theory-of-Alienation/98071.
"Marx's Theory of Alienation." Essayworld.com. April 16, 2011. Accessed April 19, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Marxs-Theory-of-Alienation/98071.
|
Save
Report