Summary Of Karl Marx Alienation Of Labor

What is labor? Labor is the effort, time energy we put forth as we work towards accomplishing a goal. Karl Marx believed in in a theory that alienation often occurred in the labor field and in his opinion the feeling isolation was only a small fragment of the big picture. For Marx, laborers could be distinctly alienated in four ways through capitalism: product alienation, process alienation, essence alienation, and human alienation. Throughout this response essay I will define Karl Marx’s beliefs on the alienation of labor and will also analyze the issues in this way of thinking. Alienation is easily defined when items that belong together become separated in some way. Product alienation, the first of the four types of ways workers are alienated occurs when the product is taken away from the one who produces that thing. I agree with this form of alienation because the product is never technically owned by the employee who creates it but by the owner who pays the employees. It is true workers are not paid by each product they produce but are actually paid an hourly rate. According to Marx alienation transpires when the product is separated from the producer. The laborers are the ones manufacturing the product therefore creating assets for a

In process alienation work as a whole is an unpleasant experience. The work environment can be stressful and painful in certain situations. Sweatshops, mining, and child labor are a few examples of extreme circumstances that usually are occurring in third world countries. Even in wealthier sections of the world this is also a reoccurring issue. People go to work feeling like pawns on a chessboard, having no control of what they do and are helpless to make a difference. Bosses micromanaging their employees have a large substantial impact on this way of thinking. People should seek to pursue careers in areas they enjoy to prevent becoming apart of process