Marxian theory of alienation

The notion of alienation has entered into modern sociology from German idealistic
philosophy especially by way of Hegal and the young Hegalians. But it was Karl Marx
who first turned it into a powerful diagnostic tool for sociological inquiry. To Marx
alienation means, to quote Erich Fromm “that man does not experience himself as the
acting agent in his grasp of the world but that the world (nature, others and himself)
remains alien to him. They stand above and against him as objects even though they may
be objects of his own creation’. For Marx this process of alienation is expressed most
forcefully in work and in the division of labour but he also speaks of religious alienation,
of political forms of alienation and of alienation from one’s own fellowmen.

Alienation is a condition in which man is dominated by the forces of his own creation
which confront him as alien powers. In his work entitled “Das Kapital’ Marx examines
his concept of alienated labour. Alienation refers to the process of the growing
dehumanization of man under the capitalist industrial conditions. Only by forfeiting more
and more of his creative human faculties does the worker contribute to the growth of the
organization.

Division of labour and alienation

Marx attributes the increasing alienation of man under capitalism to the growing division
of labour. Division of labour is a negative condition for Marx, for while it enhanced the
productive powers of men it imprisoned them in narrow spheres of activity from which
they could not escape without loosing their means of livelihood.

First phase in the development of productive forces is characterised by simple

cooperation where a great number of workers are working together at the same time in
one place to produce the same sort of commodity under the supervision of one capitalist.
This constitutes the starting point of capitalist production, according to Marx.
Cooperation of this kind takes place in manufacture, i.e hand production, where one has a
socially productive labour force and the capitalist gains out of it. Extension of the scale of
production and contraction of the arena of work i.e employing many workers under one
roof provides the ideal conditions for further development of productive forces.

Early phase of manufacture was characterised by a simple form of cooperation. The later
phase was based on a complex division of labour. In manufacture, because each operation
is still performed by hand and is therefore dependent on the skills and dexterity of the
individual workman, the worker is able to satisfy his creative urges to some extent.
However since he is now engaged in one simple operation he is alienated from some of
the creative skills he exercised earlier. What he looses in creativity he gains in efficiency.
The worker now takes less time in performing the specific operation than the craftsman
who performed the entire series of operation in succession.

The capitalist discovers that anything that disrupts the constant flow of the labour process
also cuts into his profits. Production of commodity with a minimum of labour time
becomes the central consideration. This is not possible in a system where the worker has
to perform a series of fractional operations which require him to shift and move to change
his position and his tools. These shifts interrupted the flow by creating gaps in the
working day that had to be closed by tying the worker to one and the same operation for
the entire day.

By and by there comes about a change in the tools of production. The worker now
employs a special tool for each specific operation. This revolutionizes the means of
production. But on the other hand this complex division of labour was alienating the
worker from his creative powers and diminishing him as a human being. What is taken
away from the individual worker in terms of skill, dexterity and creativity and reflective
power is given to the organization. The deficiencies of the former become the virtues of
the later.

The organization as a whole is enriched by alienating the worker from his individual
powers. A hierarchy of labour develops whereby the unskilled workers are placed at the
bottom(simplest operations of which anyone is capable of). Knowledge, judgement and
will which had previously been exercised to some degree at least by the individual
craftsmen now become a function of the productive organization as a whole. If in
manufacture the revolution in the means of production began with the organization of
labour power, in modern industry it begins with the instruments of production. The
machine uses him and he serves the machine. The intellectual powers of the worker
becomes superfluous and vanish before the gigantic physical forces of the total factory
organization.

This kind of economic exploitation and the inhuman working conditions lead to the
increasing alienation of man. What does this alienation consist of?

First that the work is external to the worker, that he does not fulfil himself in his work but
denies himself, has a feeling of misery not of well being, does not develop his physical
and mental faculties but is physically exhausted and mentally debased. His work is not
voluntary but imposed. It is not satisfaction of a need but a means for satisfying other
needs. Its alien character is shown by the fact that as soon as there is no physical or other
compulsion it is avoided like the plague. Finally the alienated character of the work
appears in the fact that it is not his work but work for someone else, that is work does not
belong to himself but to another person. The more the worker expends himself in work
the more powerful become the world of objects which he creates and the poorer he
becomes in his inner life.

The object produced by labour , the product now stands opposed to it as an alien being, as
a power independent of the producer. The life which he has given to the object sets itself
against him as an alien and hostile force. This product is an objectification of labour that
results in a loss of control over the object and servitude to the object.

The more he becomes estranged the more is the sense of powerlessness. The more the
worker puts his life into the object, the more the object strengthens the hands of the
exploiter. Thus the worker produces everything not for himself but for the powers that
manipulate him. While labour may produce beauty, luxury for the employer, the effect is
opposite for the worker. The product of his labour is alien because it does not belong to
him. The market forces have no regard for his welfare, are independent of his will and
ultimately produce starvation. Earlier the economic system was based on the barter
system. With the introduction of money as a medium of exchange products become
commodities for buying and selling, they become mere objects in the market, no longer a
means of fulfilling the needs of the individual and community.

Alienation shows itself not merely in the result but also in the process of production and
within productive activity itself. Alienation in the domain of work has a four fold aspect.
The worker is alienated from the object he produces, from the process of production,
from the community of fellows and from himself. In Marx’s view productive labour is the
most vital human activity. This is how man expresses himself. If the objects of his own
creation control him, then he looses himself in the object. A sense of powerlessness grips
the worker. There is no sense of identification with the product. It is no longer his but
belongs to the capitalist who decides how, when and at what price it is to be sold in the
market. And then the worker becomes dependent on the market forces. If his product
enjoys demand in the market he survives or else he is swamped away by the ruthless
market forces that control his life. Corresponding to the increase in the value of material
goods, there is decrease in the value of human beings.

Through his labour the worker acts to modify the world of nature. But under capitalism
the worker who is the subject and creator has become assimilated to his product, that is
the object. The worker himself is treated as a commodity to be bought and sold in the
market who has no power to determine the fate of what he produces. The process of
production thus takes the form of a loss and servitude to the object, the worker becomes a
slave of the object. The act of production then results in his alienation. This happens
when man regards the products of his labour as commodities to be bought and sold in the
market.

If the product of labour is alienation, production itself must be active alienation. The
work does not offer intrinsic satisfaction which it makes it possible for him to develop his
physical and mental faculties, since it is labour which is imposed by force of external
circumstances.

The alienation of labour has direct social ramifications. Human relations in capitalism
tend to be reduced to the operations of the market. This is manifested in the increasing
role of money in human relationships. Money is able to buy everything. Alienated labour
reduces human productive activity to the level of adaptation rather than mastery over
nature. This detaches the individual from his species being and finally from his
community of fellows.

According to Marx, work is the means through which we can express ourselves. It is the
primary source of one’s identity, gives a sense of fulfillment. Human beings are creative
beings who express their creativity through their work. Work must not be forced. Work is
not a means to an end, but an end in itself. In subsistence economies work is seen as an
end it itself, something that embodies its own value. Whatever one produced was
consumed by one and all and there was no surplus production. The fact that people are
dependent upon what one creates/produces generates a tremendous sense of satisfaction
and a feeling of fulfillment in the creator of the product. But when work is seen as a
means to an end, as something which no longer satisfies the creative urge but is done for
the mere act of survival then a sense of dejection and alienation set in.