In sociology, the concept of alienation it is closely related to the individual's alienation processes that arise for various reasons in social life. This leads to the jettisoning of society as a whole.
The state of alienation interferes with the ability of social individuals to act and think for themselves. That is, they are not aware of the role they play in social processes.
From Latin, the word "alienation" (alienate) means “to make someone alien to someone”. Currently, the term is used in different areas (law, economics, psychology, anthropology, communication, etc.) and contexts.
Karl Marx and the Concept of Alienation
Alienation in sociology was essentially influenced by the studies of the German revolutionary Karl Marx (1818-1883), in the context of alienated work and production relations.
In 1867, Marx wrote his most emblematic work, The capital. In it, the author criticizes the capitalist industrial society in its mode of production and its tendency to create a form of work that ends up dehumanizing the exploited individual.
Alienated work arises from the moment the worker loses possession of the means of production and is now understood as part of the production line (as well as machines and tools). The worker has a single fundamental function: to generate profit.
Profit is based on the exploitation of the worker and the process of added value. The worker has part of what he produces that is improperly appropriated by the capitalist.
It is, therefore, a socioeconomic alienation where the fragmentation of industrial work produces the fragmentation of human knowledge. In such a way, alienation becomes a problem of legitimacy of social control.
THE social division of labor, emphasized by capitalist society, contributes to the individual's alienation process. Citizens who participate in the production process of goods and services end up not enjoying them.
In the philosopher's words:
“Firstly, alienated work presents itself as something external to the worker, something that is not part of his personality. Thus, the worker does not fulfill himself in his work, but denies himself. You stay in the workplace with a sense of pain rather than well-being, with a sense of blockage in your physical and mental energies that causes physical fatigue and depression. (...) His work is not voluntary, but imposed and forced. (...) After all, alienated work is a work of sacrifice and mortification. It is a job that does not belong to the worker but to the other person who directs production”.
Alienation in Philosophy
Hegel (1770-1830), one of the most important German philosophers, was the first to use the term “alienation”. According to him, the alienation of the human spirit is related to the potential of individuals and the objects it creates.
Thus, the potential of individuals in the objects produced is transferred, creating a relationship of identity between individuals, for example, in culture.
In philosophy, since then, the concept of alienation has been associated with a kind of existential emptiness. It is thus related to the lack of self-awareness, so that the subject loses his identity, his value, his interests and his vitality.
As a consequence, the subject tends to objectify, to become a thing. In other words, he becomes a person alien to himself.
in addition to the alienated work, a concept well founded by Marx, in philosophy we can still consider alienated consumption and alienated leisure.
The key idea in the concept of alienation is the fact that the individual loses contact with the totality of structures. His partial view makes him misunderstand the forces at work in the context.
This entails a mystification of reality. Things are understood as necessary, the form in which society finds itself starts to be understood as the only possible way of organization.
In alienated consumption, a very explored concept, especially in today's capitalist societies, individuals are bombarded by advertisements disseminated by the media. Their freedom becomes constrained to certain consumption patterns.
Thus, the alienated individual relates his essence to a consumption pattern. The products now have a aura able to attribute characteristics to the subject and meet their needs.
Likewise, alienation through leisure generates fragile individuals, with difficulty in understanding their own personality. This directly affects your self-esteem, spontaneity and creative processes.
In leisure, alienation can be generated by the products and objects of consumption encouraged by the cultural industry.
Frankfurt School and the Present
for the german philosopher Max Horkheimer (1885-1973), creator of the expression "Cultural Industry":
“The more intense the individual's preoccupation with power over things, the more things will dominate him, the more he will lack genuine individual traits.”.
for the thinkers of Frankfurt School, the cultural industry has a fundamental role in the alienation process.
The supposed possibility of choice brings with it an appearance of freedom and increases the individual's degree of alienation. Thus, it takes away the tools for questioning the model imposed by the ruling class.
Types of Disposal
The concept of alienation is very broad and, as mentioned above, it encompasses several areas of knowledge.
Thus, the alienation can be classified into several types of which the following stand out:
- Social Alienation
- Cultural alienation
- Economic Alienation
- Political Alienation
- Religious Alienation
See too:
- Questions about Karl Marx
- Dialectics: the art of dialogue and complexity
