It is generally accepted that alienation is the key concept in

Marxs Manuscripts of 1884. How applicable is this concept

in todays society?

Ellis Nudd

Within Marxs manuscripts of 1884, he established four modes of alienation; alienation

from the product, alienation from the work, alienation from other workers, and
alienation from the species being. However, this sense of alienation as a whole needs to

have been created because of a specific reason and Marx believes that it is social
structure that acts to break down the natural interconnections that characterize human

nature in an ideal sense (Ritzer, 1992: 163). So therefore the sense of connections to the
product, work, workers and the species being which were once linked, are now seen as

an alien form through the alienation that is created through capitalism.

Marx believed that one aspect of alienation was the relation of the worker to the

product of labour as an alien object that dominates him (Marx, 1983: 137). Thus, the
workers become alienated from the products that the workers are making, although

they have made them themselves, they do not belong to them, and once made, are
taken away. The more the worker exhausts himself, the more powerful the alien world

of objects which he creates over and against himself becomes, the poorer he and his
inner world become, the less there is that belongs to him as his own (Marx, 1983: 134).

These workers therefore become alienated as they are putting all their time and effort
into something that will not have an impact on their own life once they have made it, it

will no longer be theirs, and instead will benefit someone else. For example, wood is not
simply wood, but an object of economic and social significant, and hence of general

human significance. As such an important object, wood is not the same for its possessor,
a private owner, as it is the non-owner (Lwith, 1993: 96). As a result, although the

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wood is of importance to the worker, as it is part of the process of making the products,

it has a completely different amount of significance to those who end up owning the

wood. Consequently, the wood benefits the resulting owner, however the worker is
alienated through giving it away as soon as his job is done.

A second aspect of alienation is the relation of labour to the act of production within

labour. This relation is the relationship of the worker to his own activity as an alien
activity that does not belong to him (Marx, 1983: 137). The workers are therefore

alienated from the work itself as they are selling their time to work, work which they
have no choice in participating in, in order to have a sufficient way of living; his work is

not voluntary, it is coerced, it is forced labour. It is therefore not the satisfaction of a

need, but only a means for satisfying needs external to it (Marx, 1983: 136) Workers

therefore only go to work to make money, but in order to make money, they need to
cooperate in the labour. So alongside being already alienated from the product because

it doesnt belong to them, they are also alienated from the job itself because there is a
monotony of doing the same specialised task over and over again (Ritzer, 1992: 165).

This leads to an alienated mind-set where they feel that their main task in life is to
create as many products as they can, even though this will not improve their standard of

working life. As this work is so repetitive, individuals perform less and less like human
being as they are reduced in their work to animals, beasts of burden, or inhuman

machines. Consciousness is numbered and progressively severed (Ritzer, 1992: 164).

This leads to the other modes of alienation.

Whilst the first two modes of alienation are occurring, alienation from other workers

also arises. When a man confronts himself, he confronts another man. What is true of
mans relationship to his work, to the product of his work, and to himself, is also true of

mans relationship to the other man, and to that mans labour and the object of his
labour (Marx, 1983: 141). Therefore, as workers, you work individually in order to benefit

yourself and be the best worker you can be, workers therefore become competitive
amongst each other in order to benefit themselves. For example, workers may work

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harder to stand out in order to gain a wage increase. In the relationship of alienated

labour, therefore, every man sees others in accordance with the standard and the

relationship in which he finds himself a worker (Marx, 1983: 141). Workers consequently
see each other as competition and work against each other.

The final mode of alienation is the alienation from the species being. This occurs where

alienated labour tears the object of his production away from the man, therefore, it
tears away from him his species-life, his actual objectivity as a member of the species

and transforms his advantage over the animal into the disadvantage that his inorganic
body, nature, is taken away from him (Marx, 1983: 140). Therefore, free will is the

characteristic of the species being, however capitalism has alienated us from this sense
of individualisation so that we now work together under the order of capitalism. In turn

we are therefore alienated from our species being; his nature as well as his generic
intellectual ability, is turned into an existence alien to him. It alienated from man his own

body, as well as nature outside him, as well as his spiritual being, his human being
(Marx, 1983: 140)

Although each of these modes of alienation have been explained separately, they can

also all interlink and influence each other. Alienation severs man from nature and his
fellow men, it is because the worker alienates himself in an act of production that from

the outset belongs to another, with the consequences that the product incorporating his
labour faces him as a strange and lifeless object in which he cannot recognize himself

(Duve, 2012: 22). So therefore, the worker begins to be alienated as the product he is
creating doesnt personally benefit his life and does not belong to him, this is also

because he is alienated from the work that he is monotonously doing. This in turn links
to the alienation from other workers as individual workers want to stand out in a hope

that their working conditions and wages may be improved, which then means he is
alienated from his species being and his sense of individualisation. If one point of

alienation does not occur then this may limit the other modes of alienation occurring to

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their full ability, and vice versa, if one point of alienation is increased, then this may have

a monopoly effect on the others.

Even though Marxs ideas were relevant at the time he was writing, it is significant to

analyse whether these ideas of alienation are still a key concept in todays society. One
case study that I feel can be closely linked back to Marxs ideas are the poultry plants in

Tennessee and Alabama; At these plants, there is a highly specialised division of labour;
the women who work in the plants deboning line are not just poultry workers, but,

more specifically, chicken deboners or wing cutters. Their personal identity is reduced
to this highly specific wing-cutting activity such that they are described as if they were

machines, as objects rather than humans (Dillon, 2010: 57). This type of work which is
still happening today can be linked to every stage of Marxs modes of alienation. They

would be alienated from the product, as it is not only a low quality thing to be having to
do, but what is produced also has no personal impact on their lives. They would be

alienated from the work, again as it is a low quality job and also as they are only
carrying it out in order to earn a wage. They would be alienated from other workers as

because they are large poultry plants, they would need to stand out in order to gain a
better quality of working standard. And then finally they would be alienated from their

species being because as stated, their personal identity is reduced and they are only
known as wing cutters.

Another way that Marxs ideas of alienation can be applied to todays society is the use

of sweat shops in China. Some British clothing ranges are known to use these sweat
shops in China in order to have their products made at a cheaper price. In order for

these products to be made at a cheaper price, employees are employed to work in

small, cramped, and dirty conditions at a very low wage; this is how profit is created;

Capitalism produces workers alienation because workers basic human physical and
social needs are suppressed in order to meet production demands that are set to ensure

the highest possible surplus value/ profit for the factory owner (Dillon, 2010: 57).
However, although these sweat shops allow big businesses to create large profits, they

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also create the four modes of alienation. The workers are alienated from the product

because as soon as they make the clothing, it is shipped to England. The workers are

alienated from the work because they are receiving a minimal amount of money for the
hard work that they are doing. Like in the poultry plants, workers are alienated from

other workers because they are continuously competing against each other in order to
try and stand out to gain a wage increase or better working conditions, so therefore, this

mode of alienation drives people to engage in a ruthless struggle for survival and
advantage (Geyer and Heinz, 1992: 178). And then finally, they are alienated from their

species being, as they have lost all sense of individualisation through working in huge
sweat shops where they are seen as a number and not a name, in cramped and basic

conditions. This industry therefore reveals starkly some of the horrors of capitalism
(Geyer and Heinz, 1992: 178). This example from todays society therefore links back to

Marx who believed that work in capitalism is reduced to mere labour in which the
individual does not affirm himself but denies himself, does not feel content but

unhappy, does not develop freely his physical and mental energy but mortifies his body
and ruins his mind (Ritzer, 1992: 164). However, although these workers are unhappy

and mentally drained, they do not have the option to quit their job, because they need
the money in order to satisfy their needs.

However, what is significant to ask is whether we have exported alienation to other

countries? In both of the examples that I have given, they have been in other countries,
and in todays society it is unlikely that you hear of products being made as cheap as

possible in the U.K. Instead, most products are made abroad and then imported in. The
increasing globalization of world capitalism enhances the ability of capital to flee to the

most dehumanizing conditions for workers (Geyer and Heinz, 1992: 177). So although
Marxs modes of alienation can still be applicable in some countries, does this mean that

because businesses have more ability to export the production to other countries, that
alienation has decreased within the U.K?

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Conversely it can also be said that although alienation may not occur in todays society

in every mode that Marx described, alienation can still be occurring. For example,

Suppose I work eight hours to earn my wages. With this perhaps the best thing I can
buy is a coat. But imagine that the coat took only a total of four hours to make.

Therefore I have exchanged my eight hours work for only four hours of other peoples
work. Therefore, on this view, I am exploited (Wolff, 1999: 106). As they feel exploited,

they will also feel alienated, especially in relation to their work. In their opinion, how is it
rational that they have gained less than someone who has worked less but gained more

than them? In terms of this example, Marxs ideas are still relevant in todays society.

Overall, there are a number of examples that give evidence for Marxs concept of
alienation like the sweatshops in China and the poultry plants in Tennessee. Therefore it

can still be applied that the distortions of humans caused by the structures of capitalism
fall within the bounds of Marxs famous concept of alienation (Ritzer, 1992: 179). Thus,

although society is increasingly different to how society was when Marx wrote about the
modes of alienation, it can still be analysed that people are naturally connected with

their productive activity, their products, their fellow workers, and, ultimately, with
themselves, with their inherent nature as human beings (Ritzer, 1992: 179).These

elements can still be affected by the experience of alienation.

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 References

Dillon M (2010) Introduction to sociological theory: theorists, concepts and their

applicability to the twenty-first century. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Duve T (2012) Sewn in the Sweatshops of Marx: Beuys, Warhol, Klein, Duchamp. London:
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd.

Geyer F and Heinz, W. (eds.) (1992) Society and the individual: continuity and change in
theory and research. New Jersey: Transaction publishers.

Marx K (1983) The Portable Karl Marx, extracts from Marxs Economic and Political
Manuscripts. 131-153.

Lwith K (1993) Max Weber and Karl Marx. London: Routledge.

Ritzer G (1992) Classical Sociological Theory 3rd edn. London: McGraw-Hill Companies.

Skemptom S (2010) Alienation after Derrida. London: Continuum International

Publishing Group.

Wolff J (1999) Marx and Exploitation. In Journal of Ethics. 3(2):105-120.