Karl Marx's Alienated Labor

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In this paper, I will summarize Karl Marx’s Alienated labor, where I will cover his topics that make up his economic theory and his human nature. In doing so, I will take his position on economic theory and argue against his theory of human nature. The arguments will be done through an analogy. Karl Marx’s version of human nature is actually called species being which emphasizes that we humans need to manipulate the environment by working in order to satisfy our needs. We manipulate the environment to suit our behaviours, and once our behaviours change, so does the environment. We do not need to simply serve to exist like animals do; rather, we are a social animal who wishes to share and create with other beings. In his view, we need a job …show more content…

Generally, there are four arguments Marx has against capitalism: lack of freedom from production ownership, lack of freedom due to unfavourable work, lack of creativity, and lack of economic distribution. All of his arguments are about the lack of freedoms, which can be reflected back to his position on human nature, which is about us being social animals who like to share and create with other beings, essentially a freedom. These four concepts of deprivation are what contribute to his concept of Alienation. Alienation can best be described as participation in a capitalist society, becoming deprived from freedom of choice. For example, the value of a worker is determined by the employer. If five burger flippers produce 500 dollars of profit through their labor and the employer gives 50 dollars of that profit to the workers, then it must be split between those five. The burger flippers are alienated due to their value determined through the employer. Another economic theory is communism, which puts the control of the company in the workers hands. Through the distribution of production amongst all, its goal is not to focus on wealth of private members, but to allow freedom amongst all. Unlike the limitations from capitalism, communism meets Marxs’ view on human nature by allowing the freedom of decision, to share and create with other beings, an agreement to his position against

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