Karl Marx's Estranged Labor

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In Marx’s Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, he suggested four elements that constitute alienated labour – the product of his work, his act of production, his animal life as a man, and his social relation with other persons.
Firstly, alienation of worker occurs when the worker possesses the fewer despite his greater production. The worker ‘places his life in the object’ and ‘exerts himself in his work’, but all his effort contributes to an external existence to which he does not belong. (1844 Manuscript, “Estranged Labour”, p. 171)
Secondly, the worker’s activity to produce is forced labour rather than of a voluntary nature, so its only purpose is to satisfy his needs of survival which also represents a loss of self. Therefore, …show more content…

Through transforming inorganic substances in nature to create our physical world, having ‘conscious life activity’ is the trait which makes human unique from other animals and provides our lives with purposes. (1844 Manuscript, “Estranged Labour”, p. 174) Capitalism takes away the worker’s freedom to exercise his own life purposes through his work, and hence alienating him from his ‘human essence’. (1844 Manuscript, “Estranged Labour”, p. 176)
Fourthly, alienation takes place when there is ‘estrangement from man to man’. The worker feels alienated because the torture he suffered while working belongs to his master who gets to be benefited with ‘enjoyment and pleasure’ afterwards, thus forming an extreme picture of the two parties’ fortunes. He then regards his product, and hence his relationship with its owner, as ‘alien, hostile, powerful and independent of him’. (1844 Manuscript, “Estranged Labour”, p. 177, 178)
To sum up the above four features, ‘alienation’ refers to a feeling of powerlessness and estrangement as a result of being unable to gain satisfaction and fulfilment in one’s career, hence being spiritually poorer in one’s inner world. (Zaykova …show more content…

Marx viewed work as ‘a means for people to express themselves creatively’, (Zaykova 2015) assuming that they are independent to choose their job. Nevertheless, because of the existence of competition in various aspects in the society, such as places in education and positions in the employment market, it is impossible for everyone to get their desired careers. Inevitably some with relatively fewer skills and lower education level have higher chances to be estranged in their jobs, since they lack sufficient qualifications and competitiveness that they can only be forced labour and perform exploitative and routine productions. They have no choice but to fall into the vicious cycle set by capitalists and lose their own self eventually after

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