ALIENATION OF LABOR.

THE ALIENATION OF LABOR.

KARL MARX

According to Karl Marx; in his manuscript called “Economic and Philosophical Manuscript of 1844” which masterminded alienation, says in capitalism epoch, the workers are free as compared with the slave and the serfs, but they do not own the means of production, and in order to survive, they must sell their labor to the capitalist which are bought at just a meager sum. 

This means that the individual’s labor has been alienated. According to Kant, alienation means selling or giving something away. To Marx, man is alienated from:

1.  Nature

2.  Himself

3.  His species-being and

4.  Other men.

Alienation from nature: - man is by nature which lives within nature (environment) and depend on nature (natural resource). The sensual external world “nature is continuous interchange in order not to die”. 

Therefore man is in intimate relationship with both physical (body and products) and mental (natural resources) and to the object of nature (man) thus nature is interdependent – man depends on his sense and use natural resources to produce something suitable for his living.

This relationship is broken in capitalism – man is alienated from nature (his sense) and the products of his activity, work and labor.

 The embodiment of man’s labor into an object which is turn into a physical thing is a product called “objectification of labor” man puts his life into what he produces thus becomes objectified and then alienated from what he has produced – “the worker puts his life into the object and his life then belongs no longer to himself, but to the object; and the object is owned by someone else – the capitalist”.

Alienation from himself: - this is alienation by the process of production. Mans work is not voluntary; but impose upon him; he has a felling of misery instead of well-felling. 

He denies himself and fulfills the wills of the work. 

He does not freely develop his physical and mental capacity but is instead, physically exhausted and mentally debased – the machines at the work factories determine how man should behave and work. 

The worker then fells like human being only during his leisure hours – break time. The reason why he is alienated is that, the worker is not for himself but for the employer (capitalist).

Alienation from man’s species-being:-the species characters of human being is free will, free conscious, and free acting. Man is alienated from his truly human nature – “man makes his life activities themselves an object of his free will and consciousness”. 

Although animals can produce nests and dwellings as in birds, ants, but their production of things is limited to what is strictly required for themselves and their young ones. Man on the other hand produces universally – he produces in the manner which every human being should understand and be applicable to all human being. 

The worker feels himself to be freely active in his animal functions thus eating, drinking and procreation – activities done by animals. This denotes that man has been alienated and reduced from his species being to the species of animals. 

Alienation from other men: - the alienation of man from the products of his labor, from his productivity or activities and from his species-being all leads to the alienation of man to other men. There is the breakdown of human relationship. 

Man sees his fellow man as a worker whose labor is bought and sold but not a full member of the society. There is no trust for his fellows and he sees his fellow as exploiters therefore separates himself from them.