Strength of Marx's View of Alienation

The strength of Marx’s view of alienation lies in its overarching theoretical framework, which consists of interlocking elements. Moreover, as the 1844 Manuscripts indicate, Marx considered alienation an experience embracing the totality of human relations and thus relevant to areas beyond the immediate work environment. As Adler argues, “subjective feelings of alienation are the inevitable counterpart of the workers’ objective alienation” (Adler 2009 : 76). It is not a ‘pick and choose’ approach, since each component part is intimately dependent upon the others. As Meszaros argues, “one cannot grasp the “specific” without identifying its manifold interconnections with a given system of complex mediations” (Meszaros 1975: 256). Therefore, Marx’s approach encourages an adoption of a total view of human activity and urges us to move beyond a superficial appreciation of the issues associated with aspects of the denial of dignity of work.

This focus on totality, mediation, and immediacy, which sharply contrasts with the compartmentalised approach adopted by non-Marxist approaches to alienation and dignity denial, encourages a view of research that requires any event to be considered as part of a total experience. Thus in any consideration of alienation and dignity denial, the wider context is as important as the specific instance; indeed, Marxist alienation cannot be comprehended unless both the abstract and concrete conditions are appreciated, for they both influence and impact each other. As Meszaros notes, for Marx the alienation of labour arises “through the reified mediations of Wage Labour, Private Property and Exchange” and thus is far more than simply how people feel about their work (however important this may be) (Meszaros 1975: 257). Further, Marx argues that everyone, including the owners of capital, is alienated under capitalism. In making this comment, Marx claims that alienation, while an abstraction, is expressed and mediated through specific circumstances. In short, it is not the specific circumstances, such as management policies or individual preferences, that create alienation and by extension lack of dignity. Rather, it is alienation that creates the specific circumstances, expressions if you will, where inter alia dignity is denied.

Thus for Marx, alienation, and thus dignity denial, is not an intrinsic part of human nature; it both contributes to and arises from concrete economic and social conditions. This point, apart from focusing on Marx’s view of our species-being, indicates that he believed changing the overarching economic formation carries with it the possibility of eradicating alienation, and thereby the potential to restore the dignity of work.