"Alienation" (of labor) Flashcards
definition alienation of labor
The process by which the working class is divorced from their labor activity, labor relations, and labor products. Marx claimed that in this process, labor becomes an external object independent and alien to the laborer. Labors are alienated from the labor process and products (no power over production or products under capitalist mode of production) and from each other and his true self as the nature of capitalism creates competition and makes labor mandatory.
important context or history of alienation of labor
Comes from humanist ideologies like that of Hegel who saw alienation as a process of reifying the external object with one’s inner self to become a true self.
related keywords or concepts alienation of labor
reification and ideology, alienation of labor is experienced as normal because it has been reified (produced as a fixed object rather than a social relationship)
related to the fetish of the commodity which obscures human labor relations that produce goods behind market prices
2-3 examples of how alienation of labor applies to readings
Applies to Bartleby as the scriveners are reduced to their labor with little control over it, Bartleby rejects the labor that has dehumanized him
“Song of Myself” offers an amended perspective in which labor and work is fulfilling and is a means of connection rather than a force of alienation
