Marx's Analysis of the Forms of Alienation - Essay Example

ical Sociology Marxs analysis of the forms of alienation Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel in their early years believed that industrial capitalism was the source of the modern world’s problems.  They took it upon themselves to promote radical change in the society by exposing its problems (Adams & Sydie, 2001, p. 121).  Marx believed that Alienation, a problem in the world society, was one of the features of Capitalism. He stated that under the conditions of capitalism, people are alienated from their own creative powers. Additionally, working people would eventually be ruled by the objects they created; objects became powers independent of the producer. Marx faced hardships most of his life which led to his deterioration hence death. At his funeral, Engel spoke bravely about his theoretical insights into capitalist society and revolutionary mission (Adams & Sydie, 2001, p. 23). After his death, Engel developed new editions of his old work such as Manifesto, and he published his works such as Critic of the Gotha Programme and Thesis of the Feuerbach (Adams & Sydie, 2001, p. 23). There are four types of alienation, according to Marx’s theory. These are alienation from the product of labour, alienation from activity of the product, alienation from the species being, and alienation from one another. In alienation from the product of the labourer, the product objectifies itself and becomes estranged to the labourer or producer. It becomes a power independent of the producer (Marx, 1971, p. 134). The product of labour solidifies itself to an “object”; it is the realisation of labour and the worker losses reality as it appears. The worker can lose his reality to the point of death due to starvation.  Objectification can make the worker lose the objects necessary for his life, and the objects of work as well (Marx, 1971, p. 135).  The labour also becomes an object of the worker and its power is realised by the labourer’s efforts at irregular intervals. As the product transforms to become an object, the labourer becomes alienated to the object; the demand for the object increases thus the worker possesses less and the product dominates him. The realisation of the product leads to the externalisation in activity of the product.  Externalisation of the product happens when the labour is exterior to the worker; the labour is not part of the worker’s essence (Marx, 1971, p. 137). The worker cannot confirm himself to the labour and becomes miserable. Thereafter, his physical and intellectual energy deteriorates, and his body is mortified leading to the detrimental of his mind. The labourer is a stranger at work and at home, he is relaxed and comfortable. His labour turns into a compulsory activity or rather forced. His labour is a mean of satisfaction of needs outside of his work; labour is avoided like a plague (Marx, 1971, p. 137). It is an activity against itself. At work, the labourer does not belong to himself, but to someone else. Man is a species theoretically and practically.  He makes his own species and others objects of his own (Marx, 1971, pg. 138). He relates himself to be a free being in the universe. With a man’s species-life, consists physically in the fact that man is inorganic in nature (Marx, 1971, p. 138).  The more universal of a man is than animals, the more universal is the area of inorganic nature in which he lives (Mark, 1971, p. 138). The physical man lives from the products of nature; whether it is food, eating, clothing, food and many others. Alienated labour makes the labour alienated from the nature of man and his active function or vital activity. It alienates the species life in that it transforms it into an individual life (Marx, 1971, pg. 139). Man is alienated from his own sense of humanness (Marx and Engel, 1980, p. 128). The alienation of man in every and in general in every relationship in which man stands to himself is realised and expressed in a relationship with which the man stands to other men (Marx, 1971, p. 141).If a man reacts to the product of his work, the object, as powerful, hostile and independent of him. The relationship implies that the other man is alien, as powerful, hostile and independent master of this object (Marx, 1971, p. 142). A man self-alienates himself and his nature appear in the relationship in which he places himself nature to other men distinct from himself (Marx, 1971, p. 142). Karl Marx revealed the exploitation of and demanded the automatic self-regulation of a capitalist economy.  Additionally, he explained the class struggles; between the bourgeois, and the proletarians (Mark & Engels, 1998, p.1).During his time, freedman patrician and plebeian, freedman and slave, lord and serf, journeyman and guild master, in short, oppressor and the oppressed were in constant opposition to one another.(Mark & Engels, 1998, p.1). According to Marx, the capitalist business person or investor is motivated by the desire to make money (Mark & Engels, 1998, p.1). He argued that financial intermediation and globalisation would become uncontrollable. The distribution of income and wealth apart from labour to capital can lead to capitalism to self-destruct (Socialist Party, 2011, p. 1). However, Marx did not prove Socialism as the solution to the matter. Marx may have lived in a different era from our own, but his theories have become relevant to the features of our society today (Sperber, 2013, p.1). His idea of human history as the progression of modes of production from Asiatic mode seems befitting in the 21st Century than the historical experiences in the 20th Century (Sperber, 2013, p.1). One of his ideas is that embodying intellectual conceptions and political movements would make them closely tied to collective economic interests and social structures (Sperber, 2013, p. 1). He referred political movements as the “base” and intellectual concepts as the “superstructure”. However, one does not need to confer to the metaphors. This analysis was developed to explain the different forms of royalty in France during 1840s. It can also be applied to contemporary politics where the clashes of strong political visions evidently tied to social groups or economic interests (Sperber, 2013, p.1). An example can be drawn in the last US elections where Mitt Romney proclaimed the “1% and 47%”; this is the proportion of the people who did not pay taxes. Another example is the debate on the austerity politics in the UK and the EU phrased by the government (Sperber, 2013, p.1). However, the real intention was to discuss how and which social groups will bear the consequence of economic restructure.  The second idea is the voluntary and free market exchanges contain within themselves elements of domination and exploitation (Sperber, 2013, p.1).  During Industrialisation in Britain, labourers were exploited in to produce more. One would hear cases such as starvation among workers who would toil to work 14 hours per day in harsh conditions.  Today we hear such cases, though to a lesser degree, in affluent countries  Countries such as Bangladesh ignore the negative consequences of public policy of market exchanges which began with Marx’s insight. He visualised the solution to a violent revolution (civil and international warfare) which lead to a utopian realm dissolving distinction between individuals and the society hence between society and the state (Sperber, 2013, p.1). Marx referred “crises” in the capitalist economy, in which we call today as economic “recessions”.  The explanation of these “crises”, can trail to business and financial correspondent in the 1850s. In this case, he focussed on the policies of Credit Mobilier, the world’s first investment bank. Marx was appalled by the bank statue in which one could borrow ten times his capital then use the funds to purchase shares or fund IPO (Sperber, 2013, p. 1).  However, they could not find shares, therefore, what it bought fell in value and it was difficult to pay their value (Sperber, 2013, p.1).  Future organisations such as the Irish Bank, Lehman Brothers, and French Railroad experienced the same economic unpleasantness.  Marx, after Sisimondi, was among the first questioned the self-regulation of a capitalist economy.  This dropped down to other critics such as John Keynes, Joseph Stiglitz, and Paul Krugman. The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 is the first work in which Marx tried to systematically elaborate problems of political economy (Marx, 1844, p.76). He started wring problems for himself, but soon, he realised he can publish the work which analysed the system of the bourgeois society in his time (Marx, 1844, p. 76). Marx criticised the capitalist economy for its pursuit of profit, concentration of wealth and exploitation of the majority. He believed his criticism would throw away the capitalist economy hence bring a new communist society. Marx’s insights can trail to why firms are cutting jobs because of inadequate final demand. However, cutting of jobs decreases the labour income and eventually the final demand (Socialist Party, 201, p. 1). His analysis on the workings of capitalism highlights in a recent article, “Is Capitalism Doomed?” (Socialist Party, 2011, p. 1). He sees a democratic socialist economy as being failed or discredited. However, Marx’s insights in the 19th Century can be helpful to the capitalist economy in the 21st Century.  Reference Adams B.N. & Sydie R.A. 2001. “Radical Anticapitalism”, Sociological Theory, pg.121-144, Thousand Oaks, Calif ; Fine Porge Press, Marx K. 1844. “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844”, Marx. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, pg. 76, Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Economic-Philosophic-Manuscripts-1844.pdf [2009]. Marx K. 1971. “Alienated Labour”, from McLellan, D. (ed), Early Texts, pg. 133-145, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mark K. & Engels, F. 1998. “Chapter 1; Burgeois and Proletarians.” From Mark K. & Engels, F., The Communist Manifesto, pg. 79-94, London; Verso. Socialist Party. 2011. “Karl Marx- The Relevance of His Ideas Today”, Theory and History, , pg. 1, Retrieved from http://socialistparty.ie/2011/09/karl-marx-the-relevance-of-his-ideas-today/ [11th September, 2011] Sperber J. 2013. “Is Marx Still Relevant?”, The Guardian, pg. 1, Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/16/karl-marx-ideas-resonate-today [16th May, 2013] Read More