The 2008 economic crisis helps in illustrating Marx’s view of capitalism in general and alienation in particular. According to Carl Max, Capitalism is a system that continually promises individuals self-fulfilled and happy lives. Within the United States, such a vision even has a name, which is known as the American Dream. However, reality falls far short when we look around us since this is reflected in everything, including the 2008 economic crisis that made so many Americans in feeling frustrated and isolated.
Marx also claimed in his 1844 manuscripts that for most individuals, they find work unpleasant and frustrating all the time. This is reflected in the 2008 economic crisis in which most individuals were being underpaid, and hence they could only perceive their work as unpleasant and frustrating. Therefore, this is not based on Carl Marx’s assumption concerning the need for engaging in free and creative labor as a crucial part of human alienation ( Feuer, 1969). It is merely because the 2008 economic crisis had systematically frustrated the need of an alienated system.
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Besides, during the 2008 economic crisis, the UK government announced its commitment towards strictness measures, with deep slashing in government spending, which primarily involved in freezing pays in public sector and savings in welfare reform that amounted to the overall cut of about ₤83 billion ( Fuchs & Monticelli, 2018). This resulted in rising unemployment rates and increased poverty levels. However, this tells us that capitalism is not capable of solving its inner crisis and contradictions, but it only replaces them. Therefore, the financial crisis of 2008 had served to rationalize the irrationalities of Carl Marx’s Capitalism and alienation characteristics through new development models, and reconfigurations.
Additionally, according to Marx, capitalism has the capability of generating alienation that results in an economic system in which only a small minority controls the means of production, and whereby most individuals can only survive through selling their labor power. It is also reflected in the economic crisis of 2008, in which few Companies were controlling the means of production. For example, during the 2008 financial crisis, most organizations were forced into shutting down, and the remaining few could pay small wages to the employees who were willing to sell their labor ( Jaeggi, 2016). During this time, most workers found it unpleasant to work for fewer payments, and by the fact that most of them were being forced to work overtime. Similarly, Marx argued that workers under capitalism forced themselves to work for someone else since work had no significant worth because it could not satisfy their needs since it was a way of meeting the external demands of the companies.
Besides, while capitalism continued during the economic crisis of 2008, labor also continued in being alienated. Within the “Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts,” Marx discusses diverse aspects of such alienation, including workers being alienated from their product as reflected in the 2008 crisis. In 2008, what was being produced by workers did not belong to them, and they were also less concerned about the characteristics of what they produced. All that mattered to them was that they received their wage payment ( Fuchs & Monticelli, 2018). Since the 2008 crisis reflects Marx’s capitalism, workers were mostly being alienated from their own production activities since they characteristically had no control over that activity because such actions did not express their projects or goals.
Capitalism can also generate alienation by leading to the rise of impersonal powers as described by Carl Max. During the economic crisis of 2008, most workers and companies were being dominated by various impersonal powers, from economic forces to labyrinthine bureaucracies, which most workers and organizations were not capable of controlling, even though they were typically human creations. Furthermore, Marx alienation is demonstrated in the 2008 crisis through the social activity positioning, and the consolidation of companies as real powers over workers ( Jaeggi, 2016). Besides, during this period, workers were not provided with the opportunity of democratically and collectively controlling production and this is the reason why workers found work as unpleasant and not rewarding. As a result, most workers were alienated from the value of their labor because of their outstanding debts to creditors. They increasingly became alienated by trying to pay for these debts in the sense that they were no longer considered human beings, but bill-paying and working-machines that existed for the purpose of generating more profits for lenders and creditors.
References
Feuer, L. S. (1969). From> What Is Alienationn: The Career of a Concept.
Fuchs, C., & Monticelli, L. (2018). Repeating Marx: Introduction to the Special Issue “Karl Marx@ 200: Debating Capitalism & Perspectives for the Future of Radical Theory”. tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society , 16 (2), 406-414.
Jaeggi, R. (2016). What (if anything) is wrong with capitalism? Dysfunctionality, exploitation and alienation: three approaches to the critique of capitalism. The Southern Journal of Philosophy , 54 , 44-65.
Response to Joshua Thomason
From a personal perspective, I think that Joshua’s post has well-illustrated how the 2008 economic crisis demonstrates Carl Marx’s perception of capitalism in general and alienation in particular. It is because he has done extensive research and has managed to get substantial answers concerning how Marx’s capitalism and alienation theory reflects on the economic crisis of 2008. For instance, Joshua’s discussion has helped us to understand how workers were being alienated as a result of the capitalism society created by the 2008 crisis. They were being alienated to the extent that they were never being perceived as human beings but as working machine tools designed to help the creditors and lenders in generating increased profits.
However, I still feel that Joshua’s discussion should consider doing more extensive research to support further how Marx’s capitalism and alienation theory was reflected in the 2008 economic crisis. It is because the provided two paragraphs are not enough for giving substantial support concerning the relationship between Marx’s approach and the financial crisis of 2008. Therefore, Joshua should provide more information to extend his thoughts, and should as well consider adding sources that can be used to support his ideas.
