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Karl Marx Alienated Labor

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In Karl Marx’s Alienated Labor, Marx tells us how people under capitalism are alienated from: the object, oneself, the human species, and other individuals. Through the capitalist process Marx explained “the worker sinks to the level of the commodity the most miserable; and that the misery of the worker is inversely proportional to power and volume of his protection” (§ 1, 58). Marx tells us that when man becomes an alienated commodity he is essentially a slave. The first way that Marx believes man is alienated from his labor, is from the object he produces. Workers in a factory don't feel the same connection to the product they're producing as they would if it were handcrafted. Marx believes that workers feel this way because “the more objects …show more content…

Stating that “alienation is shown not only in the result also in the process of production” (§ 18, 61) . That when worker “does not affirm himself in his work but denies himself, he feels miserable and unhappy.” (§ 18, 61) “the workers therefore only feels at ease outside of work, and during work outside himself” ( §18, 62). When Marx says this he is trying to explain that the worker being outside himself actually alienates himself from himself. Because of this the workers work can be viewed as non voluntary forced labor, equating the modern-day workers to slaves. The alienation of the worker from the rest of the human species is Marx third concern. “Alienated labor also alienates the species from him; it makes species–life the means of individual life. In the first place it alienates species– life and the individual life, and secondly it turns the latter into its obstruction” (§ 26, 63). Other species only produce what they need to survive us life serves only to preservice life. But man knows how to apply the “law of beauty in the treatment of the objective world, therefore, Man proves himself to be generally a species– being” (§ 30, 64). Sense production is actively species life according to Marx then the alien nation of production also alienates the human species–

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When man confronts himself, he also confronts other men. What is true of man’s relationship to his labour, to the product of his labour, and to himself, is also true of his relationship to other men, and to the labour and the object of the labour of other men.” (Marx 1844) We have evaluated the four types of alienation labor in relation to the worker: The estrangement of the worker from the product of his work, the estrangement of the worker from the activity of production, the worker’s estrangement from species-being or human identity and the estrangement of man to man or the estrangement from our fellow workers.

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Marx, equally, believes that the outcome of industrial capitalism is alienation of the proletariat, the working class, from their society.

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Because Marx believes the worker would “put his [or her] life into the [alien] object” (William, 132) he/she is producing, they are ultimately alienated, unconnected to

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Whether it be a hobby, your job or helping society in one way or another. Unfortunately, when we look at the capitalist society, Marx points out that the working class became a commodity to the rich. In other words, Marx says “The worker becomes poorer the richer is his production”. Since almost every company has that one or several people in charge and under them are the workers, Marx explains that this has caused the labor that the workers put out to be considered an object.

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Karl Marx's teachings of “alienated labor” can be applied to dissect the social-economic underling factors of many works of literature across a vast variety of genres. Sections of Marx’s, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts (Selected Writings 75-112), and Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, forms a connection to Marxism that can be easily detected. As we layout the Marxist critique of Frankenstein, a key term to remember will be “alienation.” “Alienation”- the process where the worker is alienated from his/her own product by being exploited by his/her Capitalist manufacturer; product of the worker’s labor no longer belongs to the worker.

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Although alienation affects everyone in capitalism, it doubtlessly affects the working class the most. Lacking control of their product, the worker only produces for the benefit of the capitalist. Thus, all of their intellectual and physical effort is for naught, as the worker never experiences the satisfaction of owning the method of their creation, which the capitalist dictates. This product is grotesque to the worker, an abomination formed only for the consumer.

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Marx makes a few key points when speaking about his theory of alienated labor. He draws these points by evaluating the welfare of individual workers and the effect of capitalism. His first point is that when a person creates and produces something on his own; he is solely entitled to it. The person benefits from both the full capital gain and his own self achievement. On the other hand, if the same person works for a company he is stripped of being solely entitled to both gains.

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Reading chapter 14 and learning about the division of labour and manufacture was very compelling to me. Marx discuses different ways on how a manufactory could be productive and how to get the right people to do the job. I think that Marx was trying to further a division of labor within a production process. The reason why I said that is because Marx felt like having people already in the manufactory trying to do everything. He felt like we should split them up in though out the factory to what there was good at.

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Marxism is the idea of social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. Social processes are the way individuals and groups interact, adjust and reject and start relationships based on behavior which is modified through social interactions. Overall marxism analyzes how societies progress and how and society ceases to progress, or regress because of their local or regional economy , or global economy. In this case, Marxism’s theory applies to the novel, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, where a society where mass satisfaction is the instrument utilized by places of power known as the Alphas in order to control the oppressed by keeping the Epsilons numb, at the cost of their opportunity to choose their own way of life. Marx thinks that an individual had a specific job to do in order to contribute to their community and that is the only way to do so; There is no escaping your contribution either.

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b. Material Determinism and Alienation Conflict between Mr.Scott and Johnson is one example of the real material contradictions. This contradiction grows up to be a contradiction between labor and capitalism. What the Mrs. Scott’s thought about excessive material is created to enrich one side. At the certain stage of Johnson, the material productive forces him come in conflict with the existing relations of production. Consequently, it causes material determinism.

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When thinking of the positive effect of specialized labor, Marx suggested that it could bring solidarity to industrial workers (as citied in Sernau, 2012, p.46). Before labor division, it was probable that people worked individually with limited interactions with others in a similar trade. Now with specialized industrial work, workers have the opportunity to work in close proximity with others, thus creating bonds. Unfortunately, one of the downfalls of specialized labor is the possibility of generating deskilled workers. Marx believed that creating jobs that required little skills opened the opportunity to vulnerable and easily replaced workers (as citied in Sernau, 2012, p.46).

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Themes and Perspectives in Sociology I What are the links between Class and Alienation According to Marx? Marx outlined four types of alienation (worker from the product, worker from the work, from 'species-being' and from other humans), which he regarded as the result of a class structured society. This led Marx to believe communism was the solution to preventing alienation and the negative effects it caused.

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The second, is alienation from the product. In Marxist time and in today’s modern world we are involved in an abundance of mass production. In a capitalist system, people are placed in a position where they are responsible in making a minor part of the goods. The goods of work belong to the capitalist and is sold for their profit, whereas the workers gain nothing. Therefore, Marx concluded that the greater effort the workers put into their job, the lesser they benefit.

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However, there is no adequate research done in understanding the relationship between them. Marx (1932) theory of work alienation was based 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, and to use or own the value of what is produced by their actions. In the "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844," Marx identifies four types of alienation in labor under

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