...workers are unsatisfied with their jobs (BBC News). Alienation can be define as "the state or experience of being isolated from group or an activity to which one should be long or which one should be involve" (Hobson, 2004:16). This essay will analyses whether technology is the major cause of alienation in various industry. It will look in different perspectives; marxism, Blauner, Nicholls and Beynon, Gallie and Zuboff respectively. Karl Marx argues that alienation is an objective state and it is an intrinsic part of capitalist society. Thus, it is an unavoidable (Noon et al, 2013:227). Alienation occurs because "work in industrial capitalist society is the dehumanized opposite of satisfying experience which develops the human capacity for creativity" (Edgell, 2006:29). According to Marx, there are four types of alienation under industrial capitalism. Firstly, product alienation, employees are alienated from product of their labour which is owned by the capitalist and lose control over their product (Noon et al, 2013:227). Secondly, alienation from productive activity. In this type of alienation workers being lost control upon their ability of labouring activity to ensure their being and determine their self-existence (Morrison, 2006:123). A third type of alienation is alienation from human species, from the product and activity alienation incur alienated from their nature species (Edgell,2006:29). Lastly, social alienation, because workers alienated from their normal life...
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...Marx’s Alienation Theory Introduction To discuss the question whether Marx’s Alienation Theory is still relevant in the modern workplace, it is necessary to identify what Marx’s Alienation Theory is and how the theory changed in the past decades. Then I will discuss about the characteristics of modern workplace and try to analysis the situation from the alienation theory perspective. As conclusion, I will try to evaluate the relevance between the theory and the workplace. Definition of Alienation Alienation is the process whereby people become foreign to the world they are living in. more The concept of alienation is deeply embedded in all the great religions and social and political theories of the civilised epoch, namely, the idea that some time in the past people lived in harmony, and then there was some kind of rupture which left people feeling like foreigners in the world, but some time in the future this alienation would be overcome and humanity would again live in harmony with itself and Nature. Marx had a specific understanding of the very sharp experience of alienation which is found in modern bourgeois society. Marx developed this understanding through his critique of Hegel. According to Hegel, through their activity, people created a culture which then confronted them as an alien force. But for Hegel human activity was itself but the expression of the Spirit (or Zeitgeist) which acted through people. In the first place, Marx insisted that it was...
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...Contrast of Theories of Karl Marx, Max Weber and Émile Durkheim. While influence on modern social science can be traced to many revolutionary figures, perhaps none had greater influence on modern social science than three social theorists/sociologists, Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim who have been known as principle architects of modern social science. Although modern theory of sociology was founded by Max Webber and Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx has had a profound impact on the evolution of modern sociology. Each of the three figures contributed to sociology in many ways through different approaches to social class and inequality. Many might argue that there are similarities between these sociologists’ theories and that they examined ideas that were similar; however, they all came to different conclusions. Karl Marx was influenced by political economists who believed that the cost of production was determined by the amount of labor. Along with these and other influences, Karl Marx approached social problems and inequalities through his theory of alienation, which focuses on separation of things that naturally belong together. Marx’s theory further describes estrangement of individuals from their human nature as results a society divided into social classes. Karl Marx argued that class is decided by ownership or non-ownership of production. He also saw class as having connection to the means of production while Max weber’s idea of alienation is based on the concept of reason...
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...Abdulkadir Öncel Suleyman Sah University Sociology ALIENATION AND ANOMIE Throughout the history many sociologists tried to analyze society and societal relations, also sociologists have still continued to study society and its problems. In the some problems, sociologists studied in minority individuals’ issue with small groups then they generalized the solution or analyzes for the majority who lives in same conditions. Because even you study society, you would need individualistic framework to understanding disharmony and problems of folk in daily life. Also it is impossible to study with all people in society. Because of that you should understand that what disturbs person? You could not understand whether being harmony or happiness between people with continuity of production or maintaining work of daily life. Therefore, sociologists anatomize into social action and relationship between all people. But primarily you should know the human nature and its structures and its needing. Each analyzes would be lacking without involving human factors whereupon also Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim first of all examined people, their structures, their desires and their connections with the nature. Then they tried to understand society with this way and put in the picture at the back of events. Not only relationship people and nature but also relationship between people is important for Marx and Durkheim who interested in people’s station in society and they searched answer for some questions...
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...Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844a) Marx explains that there are four aspects of alienated labour under capitalism. Wolff (2002, p. 29) writes: “The basic idea [of alienation] is that two things which belong together come apart” [1]. I shall be examining the four forms of alienated labour indicated by Marx in his Manuscripts and I will be using the concept of ‘unalienated labour’ as a tool to clarify what Marx meant by ‘alienated labour’. For, as Ollman puts it: “Alienation can only be grasped as the absence of unalienation, each state serving as a point of reference for the other. And for Marx, unalienation is the life man leads in communism” [2]. Marx explains that the capitalist alienates the products of labour from the workers by forcing them to produce products for both him and the buying public. But, according to Marx, since there would be no private property under communism, it is there that man would then be free to express his individuality through production (Marx, 1844b, p. 278). I will argue that although some will remain unconvinced by Marx’s theory of alienated labour because it relies on what they see as Marx’s warped conception of human nature, the theory is still useful to those struggling to understand the difficulties imposed on them by capitalist society. The first category of alienated labour analysed by Marx is: alienation from the product of labour. Under capitalism the workers produce products, but Marx argues they are alienated from the products...
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...Karl Marx (1818-83) grew up in Germany under the same conservative and oppressive conditions under which Kant and other German philosophers had to live. The Enlightenment had had some liberating effects on German life here and there, but most German principalities were still autocratic, and the idea of democracy was combated by all their rulers. The presence of police spies at major universities was a regular feature of German student life, and some students served long prison sentences for their political activism. As a law and philosophy student at the University of Berlin, Marx joined a political club that advocated political democracy. Very soon after receiving his doctorate, however, his ideas went beyond mere political reform. His future friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels introduced him to socialist and communist ideas, i. e., to ideas which progressed from mere political to social and economic reforms. For the rest of his life Marx dedicated himself to the project of radically restructuring modern industrial society along socialist and communist lines. In time he became the single most important theoretician and prominent leader of a growing international labor movement. Since Marx participated in the Revolution of 1848 as an influential newspaper editor (in a revolution that was defeated by the monarchists, and the defeat of which led scores of liberal Europeans to emigrate to the United States and elsewhere), he found it preferable to leave the stifling and backward...
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...The chapter on alienated labor clarifies the moral case against capitalism, at least as Marx saw it at this time. This has been touched on in a couple of earlier posts here but I wanted to highlight one piece of the argument. Marx's point here is that alienation is prior to private property and to such quantitative expressions of private property as exploitation, wage inequality, etc. “The alienation of the product of labour merely summarizes the alienation in the work activity itself.” In other words, how much of the product of alienated labor is available to the worker to consume is a secondary, and ultimately unimportant, issue compared with the fact of alienation itself. A couple pages later he makes this point even more emphatically: “An enforced increase in wages … would be nothing more than a better remuneration of slaves, and would not restore, either to the worker or to the work, their human significance and worth.” The claim that the level of wages is politically and morally irrelevant is very different from mainstream and even many Marxist approaches that see questions of wellbeing in terms of consumption and justice in terms of distribution of income, and don't consider the qualitative character of work at all. Marx characterizes alienation of labor in various ways: - “the work is external to the worker”; - “he does no fulfill himself in his work”; - the worker “has a feeling of misery rather than wellbeing”; - the worker “does not develop freely his...
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...“Explore the ideas of Karl Marx, discussing his theories and views toward capitalism. Discuss how these matters compare to modern day economic conditions, and consider the ethical and sustainability matters that are raised for today's managers.” Karl Marx; an economist, sociologist, revolutionary and historian, whose theories continue to influence economic thought for managers today. Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5,1818 – March 14, 1883) put forth many theories with regards to economics, politics and society that established the base on which Marxism was formed. His critique of the philosophies of other theorists and critical analysis of capitalism has influenced economic perception, and contributed largely toward the current understanding of capital and labour and the relationship that exists. In Karl Marx’s criticism of capitalism, he discussed many social matters such as ‘alienation’, the dominance by the ‘bourgeoisie’ over the ‘proletariat’; issues with regard to labour, such as the de-skilling and dehumanisation of workers as technological advances came about and capitalists strived to maximise ‘surplus value’ through the ‘exploitation’ of human labour. Although times have changed and this type of work environment is not as common, it is still an ever present situation in places such as China and India where cheap labour is employed to maximise the return for those in ‘control’. Advancements in technology continue, to the extent where the duties of workers can be performed...
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...Assess the contribution of Marxist theories to our understanding of society today Within sociology there are many varieties of conflict perspectives. Marxism is one of these. It is both a structural and a conflict theory. From a structural perspective, Marxists analyse the way society as a whole fits together. It views society as a structure in which the economic base determines the shape of the superstructure. The superstructure is made up of all the institutions such as the family, the media and the education system. Their function is to serve ruling class interests and maintain a capitalist society, according to traditional Marxists. Traditional Marxism has been extended through the work of neo Marxism. Neo Marxism is a more modern, new and up to date version of traditional Marxism. Karl Marx is the founding father of Marxism and Marxism is based on the ideas of Karl Marx, hence the name Marxism. Marx describes the concept ‘Polarisation of the Classes’. This describes the historical process of the class structure becoming increasingly polarised. Marx describes how in capitalist society the class structure becomes polarised into a wealthy bourgeoisie and an impoverished proletariat. One way in which Marxist theories helps us to understand society is through explaining historical materialism. Materialism is the view that all humans are beings with material needs, such as food, clothing and shelters and must therefore work in order to meet them. Overtime tools have been developed...
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...tony.varley@nuigalway.ie Course Description: The classical sociological tradition has been heavily dominated by the writings of Marx, Weber and Durkheim. Each of these three theorists has carved out a distinctive approach to the study of society and, in the process, has contributed substantially to our understanding of the transition from pre-modern to modern society. There are many who would argue that the ideas of these three classical figures continue to have much to offer to an understanding of contemporary society and politics. There are several possible ways to study the ideas of Marx, Weber and Durkheim. In this course we will attempt to take a thematic and comparative approach by comparing the views of Marx, Weber and Durkheim on a number of central topics. We will look therefore at their ideas concerning the methods appropriate to the study of society, their views on class and the division of labour, on democratic politics and the state and on culture, religion and ideology. Our discussion will begin with a consideration of what a ‘classical’ tradition might look like in the social sciences; and of why Marx, Weber and Durkheim merit inclusion as the most significant members within such a tradition. For a fuller appreciation of the classical tradition in social theory there is no substitute for a reading of the original writings of Marx, Durkheim and Weber. As these writings are very extensive, we will rely on a number of commentaries – principally those by Morrison...
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...individuals are collectively constructed and reconstructed to create shared understandings and develop norms that guide and pattern behavior. Now the analysis begins with a discussion of the extent to which work produces conditions of alienation for employees. This is followed by an examination of the way that employees may counter alienating tendencies through various creative strategies. And there are five survival strategies are explored: making out, fiddling, joking, sabotaging and escaping. Alienation Let’s start with alienation—it is freely used in the media and arises in everybody conversation. Here we have restricted the discussion to outlining two different perspectives on alienation. The first views alienation as an objective state, and builds on concepts originally defined by Karl Marx, while the second introduces elements of subjectivity into the analysis of alienation, and terms from a study by Robert Blauner. Alienation as an objective state Marx argues that alienation is an intrinsic part of the capitalist labour process, and the therefore is an unavoidable objective state in which all workers find themselves. It manifests itself because in selling their labour power, employees are relinquishing the right to control their own labour, thus discretion over how and when work should be undertaken becomes the prerogative of employers. As a result of this relationship, according to Marx, employees experience four types of...
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...discipline using their own concepts to achieve a common understanding. It is has multiple disciplines which covers subjects like Economics, history, and geography. Sills explains that the significance of social science allows for the better understanding of oneself in the world. He states thatsocial sciences is not concrete and differs depending on the generation. The social sciences needs to bemore heavily considered especially in our current society because there are many youths have no idea how their actions are affected by social structures.Sociological imagination is the interaction between the individuals and other individuals as well as the social structures in place. The term was coined by Mills in the 19th century during the industrial revolution. To have a sociological imagination, a person must be able to pull away from the situation and think from an alternative point of view. The movie lottery at birth helps us understand the concept of socio imaginti. Mills believed in the power of the sociological imagination to connect personal troubles to public issues. Soci imaginat is more applicable today than in Mill’s time because society is going through very fast transformations. Socio imaginati explains the nature of sociology and its relevance in daily life.Mythistory by McNeil is the concept that what may seem to be true to one historian may seem false toanother. This is an important concept because to get a full understanding of any subject we must read critically and analytically...
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...Karl Marx and Max Webber both many had many philosophies of the capitalism and its effects on society. Their ideas helped pave the way and expand on theories of previous sociologists. Both men have a deep insight of socioeconomic class in the origins and development of modern capitalism. This paper will analyze the impact of capitalism on society as perceived by both men and the areas in which they agreed, disagreed, and expanded on the ideas of the other. In many ways, the Weberian theory was “rounding out” Marx’s theories, working within the traditions of Marxian (Ritzer, page 26). Weber viewed Marxists as economic determinists who offered single-cause concepts on societal life (27). Marx’s material orientation and its effect on society was something that Weber did agree with completely. Weber had a strong belief that most ideas are what shapes an economy, while Marx believed that it is the economy (and the materials within it, help to define our ideas (27). Weber was said to have taken Marx’s ideas and, “turned Marx on his head” (27). The inverse relationship between Marx and Weber transcends into many tremendous ideas on capitalism and the effects on society. Both sociologists have unique ideas on the driving measures that led to the development and the rise of capitalism. One of Weber’s most famous works called the, Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, dealt with the origins of capitalism and their “ethos”; ideas that are engraved into religious beliefs. Weber...
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...Whitechapel London, also known as the East End, was the scene of at least five gruesome murders in 1988 that were committed by a killer now famously known as Jack the Ripper. These murders took place in the height of transition from feudalism to capitalism and fueled by this, the East End was plagued with gross overcrowding, unemployment, and was a place of severe poverty and prostitution. Marxist theories of alienation and dialectical materialism help to explain how the rise of capitalism formed the case setting and supported The Ripper’s murders of five women. In the mid-nineteenth century, an influx of Irish and Jewish immigrants hit England and swelled the population, including that of East London (Kershen 2008). Whitechapel suffered gross overcrowding and an urban proletariat started to emerge (Rumbelow 2001). Housing and working conditions became worse and poverty led many people to alcohol, crime and violence and women were driven into prostitution as work was hard to find (Vaughan 2008). Many people were dependent on lodging houses for a place to sleep, and would only be admitted if they had four pence as payment. Those who did not have the money were left outside on the streets (Rumbelow 2001). The first of the official Jack the Ripper murders occurred in the early hours of 31st August 1988 (Rumbelow 2001). A woman later identified as forty-two year old Polly Nichols was found with her throat cut from ear to ear and when taken to the morgue and undressed by morgue...
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...resort to taking their own lives (Schaefer, 10). Therefore, he advocated the creation of social groups between the family and the state to provide a sense of belonging for members of a society (Schaefer, 10). Durkheim is linked to the structural functionalist perspective. Its main focus is on how people and institutions serve as a function. As long as every person and institution does this, there will be order and stability within society. This leads back to his idea that behavior cannot be understood in individualistic terms, but within a larger social context. He believed that anomie could be avoided by creating a sense of belonging between the family and the state. Karl Marx focused on economic and political relations of power. He studied the conflicts between the working class and owning class. Alienation refers to the separation between the worker and the work process (Schaefer, 11). For example, workers going on strike feel separated from the work process. By...
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