Karl Marx

Karl Marx

Karl Marx’s theory of alienation is based upon his observation on production under Capitalism. Under this theory he claimed that almost all work done in a Capitalist society is alienated. These included alienation from the act of production, the species, the species essence or higher capacities and the product itself. Eventually workers under capitalism lose control of themselves, in not having any control of their work. As the industrial evolution was occurring in Karl Marx’s time he came to realize, “the alienation of the laborer in his product has this significance: since his labor is an object, not only does this labor become a separate existence, but it is also separate from him, independent, alien to his existence and a self-sufficient power which exists above him.” Marx argued capitalism causes us to be “alienated” from the product and the activity of our labor, from our species and from our own higher human capacities. In order for the workers to survive, he believed workers create a product which they have no participation in besides the actual creation.

The product the workers create has no significance or benefit to the creator, solely to the consumer of the product. An example of this might be an employee who works in sales and could be selling a product which he or she would never purchase. This type of action demonstrates how people are pushed around as commodities, not as human beings. Workers were also viewed as having little participation in the production and distribution of the object. In this sense, Marx believed the more time a person put into an object, the more the object owns this person. This alienation process results in the worker having little power over his or her work. Without control over the product, there is no personal connection between the object itself and the worker. Marx also uses religion as an example of this situation. The more a person puts into himself into God, the less he belongs to himself. God is seen as the object and the person places his life into this object. This belief by Marx belittles human beings and their moral values. Man can no longer live or think for himself if he dedicates his life to something. Along with alienation from the production, Marx also believed capitalism causes us to be alienated from our species.

Alienation from our species started to begin when fatalism was over taken by capitalism. Karl Marx believed that capitalism is a lot like survival of the fittest, so he opted for a communist theory- working together to strive for one goal. Competition between businesses can often lead to bitter rivalries and excessive spending in marketing. For example, Nike and Adidas compete in very similar markets. Each company strives to win over the customer with a similar product, inevitably leading to competition within these companies. Marx believes this alienates people from each other versus working towards one common goal. Capitalism is then to blame for promoting competition among workers. Mark believed capitalism is at fault for alienation among species and then also from the species’ essence.

Marx believed the rise of capitalism causes alienation of the �species essence’ as a human being, rather than a device. Marx would consider the essence of a human being to include any interest beyond the ordinary: spatial, visual, metacognitive actions. Marx goes on to believe these higher capacities are hindered in the workplace because they are not encouraged or allowed to be express. In a capitalist society, higher capacities are not able to develop unless a worker chooses to take that chance. Often, this results in punishment or failure. Instead of allowing time for a worker to think about his or her place in the universe, the time is focused on doing inventory or creating an insole for shoe. From this, the idea arises that people stick to what they consume over what they produce.

Quite often workers are limited or alienated from the product they produce since they have no power in the process. While workers have no say in production, they do have say in what they consume. People have the power to choose because there is no authority figure telling them otherwise. Although marketing can influence a person’s choice in consuming, it is still the customer who has