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Theory of Alienation

The purpose of this research is to examine the theory of alienation as set down by Karl Marx and to discuss it in relationship to the role of the student in contemporary society. Marx' theories will be used to analyze the situation and prospects of that student in the American university of today. How is the university of contemporary America similar to the factory of Britain or Europe of the last century? Is the alienation suffered by the nineteenth century laborer, as discussed by Marx, a factor in the life of the twentieth century university student here in this country?

In his Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts (1832), Marx determined four aspects to alienated labor. Firstly, "the worker was related to the product of his labor as to an alien object; it stood over and above him, opposed to him as an independent power." Secondly, because he was thus alienated from his product - which can be seen as the objectification of himself - he is alienated from himself during the act of production, viewing work as outside of himself, as outside of his real life. He is no longer at home in it. Then, the essence of man being that of a social being, work takes from him his "species-life" by not reflecting him as a "species-being." Lastly, the conditions of work also alienate the worker from other men. This is accomplished in several ways. Co-workers are viewed as the man views himself - as no more than a commodity which produces objects foreign to their creator. He is alienated from the consumer of his product by that man's power over that product: the consumer acquires power over the producer through acquisition of power over the object.

Again in the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts (1844) Marx discusses the ironic situation of the worker. The worker's condition is in inverse proportion to his production. Thus, the greater wealth he produces, the poorer he becomes. The cheaper a commodity he is, the greater the ...

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Theory of Alienation. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 21:23, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1682184.html