According to Marx's theory of alienation, when a person is engaged in the lower rungs of a capitalist system, in which they are just cogs in a much larger system, they are driven by those within a higher social class to produce as much as possible.
In the broadest sense of the word, alienation is the process through which a person becomes isolated from his or her own culture or society. From the perspective of Karl Marx, alienation occurs when the worker is objectified and separated from their human nature.
From Marx's perspective, human beings distinguished themselves from other animals based on their consciousness, autonomy, and ability to be productive members of a society, which give them a sense of purpose in life.
Marx's theory is expansive and at times complicated, but one of his main points is that by forcing lower social classes into this role, they are effectively dehumanized because over time they are separated from their human nature.
This alienation has numerous negative effects, but one of the most significant is that it precludes the opportunity for self-actualization, which is the point at which an individual sees the fulfillment of his or her potential. Being disconnected from their humanity and denied the right to self-actualization causes the individuals to see themselves or be seen by others as nothing more than an object in a capitalist system of production.
According to Marx's theory of alienation, when a person is engaged in the lower rungs of a capitalist system, in which they are just cogs in a much larger system, they are driven by those within a higher social class to produce as much as possible.
Among his valuable contributions to these fields are his theories on the effects of social alienation on an individual's ability to forge his or her own path in life.
Lesson Transcript. As an influential figure in the social sciences, Karl Marx's writings have informed many areas of human societies. In this lesson, you'll explore Marx's theory on alienation and gain insight into how it affects capitalistic social systems. Updated: 05/07/2021.
From Marx's perspective, human beings distinguished themselves from other animals based on their consciousness, autonomy, and ability to be productive members of a society, which give them a sense of purpose in life.
According to Marx's theory, this system creates considerable social conflict between laborers, who come to see their value only in terms of what they are paid in wages. In this situation, workers are put in direct competition with one another, which weakens social bonds and strengthens a hierarchy of social classes.
Lesson Summary. In the broadest sense of the word, alienation is the process through which a person becomes isolated from his or her own culture or society. From the perspective of Karl Marx, alienation occurs when the worker is objectified and separated from their human nature.
In the capitalist mode of production, a person (whether a worker, an engineer or some other physical or intellectual laborer) is neither the inventor nor designer of a product nor does that person receive any benefit from the existence of that product beyond what the capitalist is willing to pay him in wages.
Closely related to alienation from his product, the worker in an industrial capitalist society is separated from the very act of production itself through the division and specialization of labor.
Species essence is Marx's definition of human nature. Marx's notion that alienation occurs when the makers of things are separated from their ownership of them is grounded in his definition of human nature. For Marx, human beings are not defined only by what they produce, but by the very fact that they do so.