Karl Marx Alienation Essay

Merriam Webster defines capitalism as “an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.” One of Karl Marx’s greatest accomplishments and what he is best known for is his critique of capitalism, where he says that it is essentially alienating. Marx’s theory has a very large following and has a profound impact on philosophy and sociology. In a capitalist economy individuals are divided into classes-those who own the necessities used for production and those who do not, the workers. Capitalism means that the necessities used for production are privately owned, which in turn creates a divide between the owners and their workers. To Marx, economics is a very important category and it encompasses almost everything needed in order to produce goods, but it does not

All humans are considered to be “biological beings” and in order to survive biological beings must transform their surrounding world. Unlike other animals, who transform their surrounding world by instinct, humans consciously transform their surrounding world. What Marx refers to as our “species being” is the essence of a human being and how they transform their surrounding world to meet their needs. According to Marx, “excellently doing what makes us distinctively human is the true source of fulfillment”. Marx claims that capitalism is alienating. Alienation is defined as “the state or experience of being isolated from a group or an activity to which one should belong or in which one should be involved.” Our ‘species being” is something that should be familiar, because it is the essence of being human, and so we become disconnected from our own nature when we are unable to act according to our “species being.” If a capitalist society inhibits humans from realizing their “species being”, then capitalist work, in essence, is