Karl Marx
Karl Marx’s theory of alienation is based upon his observation on production under Capitalism. Under this theory he claimed that almost all work done in a Capitalist society is alienated. These included alienation from the act of production, the species, the species essence or higher capacities and the product itself. Eventually workers under capitalism lose control of themselves, in not having any control of their work. As the industrial evolution was occurring in Karl Marx’s time he came to realize, “the alienation of the laborer in his product has this significance: since his labor is an object, not only does this labor become a separate existence, but it is also separate from him, independent, alien to his existence and a self-sufficient power which exists above him.” Marx argued capitalism causes us to be “alienated” from the product and the activity of our labor, from our species and from our own higher human capacities. In order for the workers to survive, he believed workers create a product which they have no participation in besides the actual creation.
The product the workers create has no significance or benefit to the creator, solely to the consumer of the product. An example of this might be an employee who works in sales and could be selling a product which he or she would never purchase. This type of action demonstrates how people are pushed around as commodities, not as human beings. Workers were also viewed as having little participation in the production and distribution of the object. In this sense, Marx believed the more time a person put into an object, the more the object owns this person. This alienation process results in the worker having l ...