Essay on Karl Marx and Capitalist Alienation - 1828 Words

The concept of alienation plays a significant role in Marxs 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 Marxs thought. It will be concluded that alienation is a useful tool in explaining the affect of capitalism on human existence. In Marxs thought, however, the usefulness of alienation it is limited to explanation. It does not help in†¦show more content†¦The division of labour ensures that each worker only does one job, and the labour market decides which job any particular worker will do. During labour, the worker uses capital not under his own control. The capital available det ermines the nature of the work. On top of all this, the worker has no choice but to work, as wages are needed to provide the workers means to life. Work is seen to be not voluntary, but forced (3). This shows that in a capitalist society, the worker is separated from the decisions of whether or not to work, what the work will be, and what form the work will take. This alienation of labour is the separation of man from his life-activity. Not only is the worker alienated from his labour, but he is also separated from the result of his labour - the product. This is the most obvious manifestation of the alienation of the worker; he has no power over what he produces. The wage contract ensures that the products of labour are surrendered to the capitalist, who then sells them on the market, and pays the worker a wage. Marx points out that the alienation of the product is double - not only is the worker separate from his own product, but that product, as increasing the power of capital, ac tually weakens the workers position. (4) Marx refers to the product of labour as the objectification of labour. The workers labour objectified is used against him in a capitalistShow MoreRelated Karl Marx - Capitalist Alienation Essay709 Words   |  3 Pagesand a half ago, Karl Marx established a theory that today is known as the backbone to modern socialism and communism. Marx viewed the early capitalism of his own day as inherently exploitive. At the core of capitalist production is what is considered surplus value, the value left over after the producer (in Marx’s case, factory owner) had paid the fixed costs of production such as raw materials, machinery, overhead and wages. The left over amount was kept as profit, a profit that Marx saw that was earnedRead More Karl Marx - Capitalist Alienation Essay665 Words   |  3 PagesKarl Marx - Capitalist Alienation THE TERM alienation in normal usage refers to a feeling of separateness, of being alone and apart from others. For Marx, alienation was not a feeling or a mental condition, but an economic and social condition of class society--in particular, capitalist society. Alienation, in Marxist terms, refers to the separation of the mass of wage workers from the products of their own labor. Marx first expressed the idea, somewhat poetically, in his 1844 Manuscripts:Read MoreKarl Marx s Theory Of Alienation Essay1686 Words   |  7 PagesSociologist Karl Marx concentrated deeply on economic problems and related these matters to social issues. 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