In the readings, as well as “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844”, Karl Marx examined the economic system of private ownership. Marx indicates that there are two classes within society; property owners and property-less workers. This system creates a clear form of alienation. Under this system, there are four types of alienation that a worker will experience. The first to be discussed is the estrangement of the worker from the product of his work. The worker relates to the product of work as an object alien. The worker invests much of his time and his labor into the work, yet never benefits from the production of the work. The work is turned out into the world. The more of the work that is produced, causes the worker to pale in comparison to the end product, as the worker receives no recognition of the work. …show more content…
The work performed by the worker is not a creation of the worker, rather something that belongs to the owner. The work is only a means of survival, completed at the owner’s direction. The worker loses the worth of self, as he completes the work of someone else, rather than an internal act of creativity. Next is the worker’s alienation from “species-being” or human identity. Work formulates a purpose in life. To have identity, human beings desire the ability to transform inorganic matter to create things. In essence, a person is what he or she does, in the form of work. With private ownership, the worker is separated from their source of the identity or “species-being”. Last, is the estrangement of man to man. The work being performed is actually the product of the owner; the worker often regards the owner as alien. The worker feels alienated and hostile towards the system owned through private property. The worker believes he only boosts the owner’s enrichments. The worker loses their self-identity and