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Karl Marx's Four Stages Of Alienation In A Capitalist Society

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In today’s industrialized world, the fact of the matter is that most individuals must work for those who are wealthy and are familiar with the luxury of owning property in order to survive. However, being a member of the working class in a Capitalist society makes it all too easy to begin to feel disconnected from the rest of the world. According to sociologist Karl Marx, this is known as Alienation, which can be experienced in four distinct stages: alienation from the product of one’s labor, from the labor process, from others, and from oneself. In their most basic forms, the stages of Alienation detail the loss of control over what one produces, the inability to control how they work to produce, the strains that form in relationships as a result of working too much, and the lack of self-development caused by experiencing the prior three stages, …show more content…

For example, the forfeiture of my ownership of my papers after I submit them as well as my lack of control over how and when I can complete assignments alienates me from the product of my labor and the labor process. Furthermore, the amount of time I must devote to school limits the time I can spend with those I care about while preventing me from exploring my identity. Before writing this paper, I had never considered just how alienated I have become because of college, and unfortunately, many members of the working class are nothing short of familiar with being alienated. The process of Alienation caused by Capitalism is all too real, and the stages proposed by Marx are useful when analyzing the different ways in which an individual can become alienated. Specifically, being able to identify the distinct ways in which one is alienated is the first step one must complete in order to start to take more control of their own

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