Frankly speaking, this is my first time to know about Marx's theory of alienation. Even though Marxist Philosophy and Marx's Political Economics are two required courses for all undergraduate students, there is no alienation theory. Of course, for students who major in philosophy and sociology, they have different textbooks.
As a layman, to understand the alienation theory literally, I think it is the state of feeling estranged or separated from one's milieu or self. At an experiential level, I just have felt that the overconsumption of media and overuse of new communication technologies nowadays lead to the phenomenon of interpersonal divide, in other words, isolation and displacement. I guess this is one example of alienation in our daily life. Everyday communication technologies, from cell phone to the Internet, have cumulative impact on the society and ourselves. They blur and blend the real with the virtually real, and then result in a graying of the physical world. Many of us have lost our sense of timing from overexposure to virtual reality. We are used to understanding the reality according to the television reality. Some of us also lost a sense of occasion-when and where to confront an issue or a person-and to end up complicating situations. We are used to deal with problems by email, telephone, even google. In short, I understand alienation from a technological perspective.
According to Marx, alienation is a systematic result of capitalism. This point intrigues me. Marx's alienation theory was based on his observation that with the industrial production emerging, workers inevitably lost control of their lives, work and themselves. Marx depicted four types of alienation in labor under capitalism. Capitalism turned single worker into a machine rather than a human being, turned the relationship between workers into competitive commodities rather than a social relationship, turned the products into being appropriated by capitalist class rather than being controlled by the workers, turned the act of production into a meaningless activity rather than offering intrinsic satisfactions.
This is my first time reading the original work of Marx, and also the first time reading books about Marx in English. And I was taught before Marx's theory is the truth rather than just a theory. Thus, everything has strong and significant impact on me, as well as makes me feel kind of puzzled. I am sorry about that. And this is also part of the reasons why I choose this class. There are a lot of things in this area I need learn.
As a layman, to understand the alienation theory literally, I think it is the state of feeling estranged or separated from one's milieu or self. At an experiential level, I just have felt that the overconsumption of media and overuse of new communication technologies nowadays lead to the phenomenon of interpersonal divide, in other words, isolation and displacement. I guess this is one example of alienation in our daily life. Everyday communication technologies, from cell phone to the Internet, have cumulative impact on the society and ourselves. They blur and blend the real with the virtually real, and then result in a graying of the physical world. Many of us have lost our sense of timing from overexposure to virtual reality. We are used to understanding the reality according to the television reality. Some of us also lost a sense of occasion-when and where to confront an issue or a person-and to end up complicating situations. We are used to deal with problems by email, telephone, even google. In short, I understand alienation from a technological perspective.
According to Marx, alienation is a systematic result of capitalism. This point intrigues me. Marx's alienation theory was based on his observation that with the industrial production emerging, workers inevitably lost control of their lives, work and themselves. Marx depicted four types of alienation in labor under capitalism. Capitalism turned single worker into a machine rather than a human being, turned the relationship between workers into competitive commodities rather than a social relationship, turned the products into being appropriated by capitalist class rather than being controlled by the workers, turned the act of production into a meaningless activity rather than offering intrinsic satisfactions.
This is my first time reading the original work of Marx, and also the first time reading books about Marx in English. And I was taught before Marx's theory is the truth rather than just a theory. Thus, everything has strong and significant impact on me, as well as makes me feel kind of puzzled. I am sorry about that. And this is also part of the reasons why I choose this class. There are a lot of things in this area I need learn.
