The theory of alienation was developed by Karl Marx. He defined alienation as any state of human existence where one is enslaved from making their own decisions and have to follow the orders of another ( Mandel & Novack, 1973) . He came up with the theory during a time the capitalists were forcing their slaves to work for them to improve their industries. However, Marx believed that human beings could deliver better services when they are free other than slaves. Also, Martineau, a classical theory proponent also believed that workers should not be exploited as much as work is essential (Dahms, 2005). Furthermore, Lukacs, a critical sociology theorist explored alienation in the division of labor. He stated that social relationships play a great role in the interpretation of division of labor among human beings. Also, Emile Durkheim developed two notions of “anomie.” Durkheim discussed anomie in depth in suicide and division of labor issues in the society. Therefore, this research study will investigate the impact of alienation on human beings on the aspect of division of labor (Cullingford & Morrison, 1996). It will also focus on the link between alienation, classical and sociological theories.
Research Questions
The following questions will guide the research study:
Does alienation affect the social lives of the capitalist society?
What is the relationship between alienation and classical theories?
What is the relationship between alienation and sociological theories?
Literature Review
Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Lukacs, and Martineau are influential theorists in the faculty of social sciences. Karl Marx ideology involved capitalist and its effects on the society. Therefore, came up with the notion of alienation where he fully addressed the negative impact of forced human labor. In the Marxist literature by Marx, alienation was used to criticize the behavior of capitalists on human beings. Marx saw capitalism to have negative impacts on human social relationships. Therefore, he aimed at enlightening the people on the idea of capitalism and how it enslaves people; to enable them to take care of their lives.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
According to Marx, capitalism alienates the producers from their produce (Coeckelbergh, 2012). He defines alienation as a situation where products and activities take independent places to become hostile entities against a human. He believed that capitalism was based on economic aspect and religion and politics were not included. Therefore, in the capitalist sector, human beings are merely economic objects which contribute to the production process. In a capitalist society, there is increased the division of labor and people place much importance on private ownership of property. As a result, people do not value social relationships since they calculate the value of the relationship with others in terms of profit gained. Also, the decisions made by people in a capitalist society are based on economic benefits other than social benefits. Karl Max also observed that in a capitalist society, people were concerned with the accumulation of properties and wealth; which greatly contributed to alienation.
According to Karl Marx, there are four aspects of alienated labor (Cranston, 1991). Firstly, the worker’s products (labor) become the product of other people (employers). Thus, the exchange of labor with a certain payment contributed to the creation of an alien world. When the workers contribute their labor to the employers, they give more than what they receive as payment. Secondly, he observed that workers are alienated during the process of labor. The employers force their workers to meet their expectations, yet they failed to satisfy their needs. Thirdly, labor is seen as a product on itself by the employers, which further alienates the workers from their activities. Finally, the employers own the product of the employee thus alienating him from his product, while the laborers are seen to have a relationship with only their fellow laborers but not with neither their product nor employers. Thus, Marx finds employees being alienated from self since they are termed as objects by their employers and not human beings. Also, the employers are in control of their employees’ social relationships. Hence, human beings are further alienated from the other human beings in the capitalist society.
Durkheim developed four types of suicide and found out that anomie caused the four different types. The types of suicide include: anomic, fatalistic, altruistic and egoistic (Coser, 1991). In anomic suicide, an individual is not sufficiently controlled the society while fatalistic suicide occurs after an individual is extremely controlled by the society. Furthermore, altruistic suicide develops when an individual is under the control of a particular social group while egoistic suicide occurs when an individual’s rules become significant to him/her than the collective rules of a group. In different groups such as the religious groups, people belonging to these groups they may develop different types of suicide (Converse, 1972). For instance, Protestants may commit suicide more than Catholics since their doctrine allows some freedom, unlike the Catholics. Hence, the form of suicide is seen as a type of alienation by Durkheim in the social set up. Similarly, in the division of labor, suicide has the same meaning according to Durkheim. An individual may develop anomie suicide if the level of regulation at work is insufficient. Therefore, he suggests that division of labor weakens the social relationships by causing stress and deviance among the workers.
The research study will seek to establish the relevance of alienation concept in the sociological and capitalism theories. Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Martineau and Lukacs scholarly works have played a noble role in the understanding of alienation in both classical and sociological theories. The research study will offer sufficient information regarding how each has contributed in his or her respective areas. It will also provide details on the importance of understanding alienation theory among the workers in the capitalists’ societies, which will help them to liberate themselves from mistreatment by their employers. In the social sector, the paper will study how people have been affected by different forms of suicide, and the factors leading to their occurrence. Also, the study will bring up the possible remedies that can be put in place, to prevent the different types of suicide from taking place in the society.
References
Coeckelbergh M. (2012). Technology as skill and activity: Revisiting the problem of alienation. Techne: Research in Philosophy and Technology 16(3): 208–230.
Converse P.E. (1972). Change in the American electorate. In: Campbell A and Converse PE (eds) The Human Meaning of Social Change . New York: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 263–337.
Coser R. (1991). In Defense of Modernity: Role Complexity and Individual Autonomy . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Cranston M. (1991). The Noble Savage: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1754–1762 . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Cullingford C. and Morrison J (1996). Who excludes whom? The personal experience of exclusion. In: Blyth E and Milner J (eds) Exclusion from School: Inter-Professional Issues for Policy and Practice. London: Routledge, pp. 130–148.
Dahms H. (2005). Does alienation have a future? Recapturing the core of the critical theory. In: Langman L. and Kalekin-Fishman D (eds). The Evolution of Alienation: Trauma, Promise, and the Millennium. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 23–46.
Mandel, E., & Novack, G. (1973). The Marxist theory of alienation: three essays . Pathfinder Press.
