The capitalist system is a generally accepted norm which functions successfully in the modern world. However, Marx presented the alienation of labor, which is one of the capitalist features, as the process is contrary to human nature (Vidal et al., 2019). The reason for the emergence of such a phenomenon is the essence of capitalist society, which affects the social, political, economic, and psychological aspects.
Capitalist Society
Modern commodity-market relations and the culture of wage labor are characteristic of capitalist society. Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership of the production means (Fraser & Jaeggi, 2018). The concept of means implies everything necessary for producing goods, including resources, materials, and equipment. However, the labor which a person applies for the production of various commodities, as well as their time, is not a capitalistic means in the traditional sense. Thus, the capitalist is forced to buy the labor of the worker in exchange for wages. Such a system leads to the emergence of separation of the capitalist class, who own private property, and workers, who sell their labor.
Marx’s Alienated Labor
The notion of alienation is central to Marx’s criticism of capitalistic society. In the basic and most extensive sense, alienation means a state of isolation. In Hegel and other philosophers, similar terms denoted a person’s spiritual alienation from life. Older use indicates the situation when, for example, a farmer was forced to surrender his land to someone (Morris, 2018). In Marx’s theory, the concept contains all three meanings; in addition, it is also associated with cultural, political, and legislative relations (Lotz, 2018). Thus, the process of alienating labor in a capitalist structure is not only of economic and social significance.
The capitalist structure has a special trait which is the separation of the production means from the majority of producers. Therefore, most people who are members of such a society do not have direct access to them and cannot “produce both their subsistence and themselves” (Karlsson & Månson, 2017, p. 109). Thus, most individuals have access to the means only when they are hired by the few owners of these means to produce certain goods. Consequently, Marx does not consider alienation as an abstract psychological process, as a feeling that the individual experiences and tries to resist. On the contrary, he describes alienation as a particular mechanism for the operation of a capitalist society.
With the advent of modern times, most workers or peasants were forced to submit to changed working conditions. The basis of capitalist life was the relationship between the means and private property, centered in the hands of a certain class and free workers who are now forced to sell their labor (Karlsson & Månson, 2017). Thus, former producers have lost the ability to sell their goods directly, which leads to the entry of alienated labor. Since initially, a person can create objects or services, such labor will be external to him, not directly belonging to him (Karlsson & Månson, 2017). Thus, any person in the capitalist social system is inevitably forced to participate in alienating labor on one side or another. A person will have to become either a capitalist, who owns private property and means of production or a hired worker, whose labor is alienated.
Aspects of Alienated Labor
Marx also considers several aspects which directly constitute the concept of alienation within the framework of capitalism. First of all, Marx emphasizes the alienation from the product of the labor. It is implied that in a capitalist society, the producer loses connection with the commodity they directly produce. Thus, a person lacks an important ability to meet basic psychological and social needs, as well as “potential for development, for self-determination” (Lavalette & Ferguson, 2018, p. 199). In a capitalist society, the worker’s objects immediately become the property of the owner of the production means; he gains control over them. Thus, the worker, whose labor is alienated, loses control over his work result, while the other person gets it. Consequently, a structure of separation of the worker and the owner arises, in which the more the worker produces, the more control the owner has. Thus, alienated labor results are significant only for the owner because he is expanding his power.
Directly for an employee, such work does not represent individual significance, does not make him richer or more attentive, and does not reveal his creative potential. The lack of personal connection between the worker and the goods produced by him leads to alienation from the process of labor, a sense that a person loses control over the life (Karlsson & Månson, 2017). Activity is no longer self-expression; it turns exclusively into a way of maintaining one’s own existence. Labour in a capitalist society is not connected with the individual’s desires, inclinations, or aspirations. Thus, people become slaves to the satisfaction of physical needs; they are alienated from the psychological and social aspects of life (Lotz, 2018). Alienation from the labor process forces a person to consider it a necessity, something hostile and not belonging to him.
Marx also identified two aspects of a person’s capacity to work: concrete labor and abstract labor. Labor becomes standardized and is determined by the commodities a particular worker produces (Vidal et al., 2019). The person can create certain goods, specific physical objects, which can then be exchanged. However, the goods produced also have an abstract aspect, which is the time the employee spent on work. Thus, the combination of abstract and concrete labor endows commodities with value and allows them to be exchanged. Workers receive their wages for their time, exchange it for means of survival in order to continue to have a productive capacity. Thus, Marx implies that “there is no basic difference in the capitalist system between a commodity produced in a factory and the special commodity that is a part of the human being” (Karlsson & Månson, 2017). Alienation from the labor process makes the nature and essence of the work performed insignificant, emphasizing the importance of only its volume.
The combination of the two aspects of alienation from the result and the labor process leads to a third, more social side of the worker’s capitalist system. Marx also argues that alienated labor to one degree or another deprives workers of their “essence or species-being” (Vidal et al., 2019, p. 364). Hired labor prevents a person from reflecting and expressing himself through activity, and he is also controlled by abstract labor time. Thus, Marx argues that alienated labor stops a person’s development, turning him into a kind of an animal pursuing physiological needs or a machine labeled to do certain work (Vidal et al., 2019). The capitalist system suppresses man’s inner nature, forcing him to consider labor as a source of survival.
Another aspect of alienated labor is the isolation of a person from society and other people. In a capitalist structure, the worker is distanced from other society members since “the capitalist appears as the dominating will of another” (Vidal et al., 2019, p. 365). A person performing a particular work is equally alienated from the employer and colleagues since the production owner means to be a more powerful hostile force, and other workers competitors. Thus, the possibility of interaction with other members of society arises only within the framework of joint labor in production. Thus, the capitalist system suppresses not only individual psychological needs but also social ones.
The alienation of labor, according to Marx, leads to a violation of the very nature of the human being. At a time when he needs to participate in the production of goods actively, not only physically but also psychologically, the capitalist system deprives him of such an opportunity. Working for a wage for the owner of the means does not allow him to feel involved in his work because he puts it under capitalist control. Moreover, the worker does not feel satisfaction from the process of creating a product since reality does not seem to be a means for development and self-expression, but rather a means of existence. Moreover, alienated labor forces a person to pursue only the satisfaction of physiological needs, using his wages, for which he exchanged his time. Finally, the capitalist system alienates a person from both capitalists and workers alike.
Commodity Fetishism
Capitalism is the first structure in which the production of goods became a central concern. Produced objects are basically meant to satisfy any human needs, regardless of their origin. Each such object can be exchanged for another; thus, any product has both use value and exchange value (Lavalette & Ferguson, 2018). Nevertheless, in a capitalist society, the usefulness of any commodity is inseparable from its exchange value. Marx believed that when producers of goods are alienated from the products of their activities, market relations between producers are transformed into relations between goods (Lavalette & Ferguson, 2018). While the production process becomes directly independent of the workers, they, however, find themselves in all-round material dependence.
In a capitalist society, to enter into production relations, it is necessary to have materials or labor. Thus, a process occurs in which goods are direct participants in such relations, while people act exclusively as their owners. In this case, people are in material relationships, while the objects themselves are involved in social interaction, regulating the market rules. Within the framework of commodity fetishism inherent in capitalism, things are animated, and individuals are viewed as market relations elements (Lavalette & Ferguson, 2018). Thus, money acts as a universal commodity that can be exchanged for all other objects. With the spread of such a universal product, work for a person is exclusively material in nature, which does not depend on any conscious actions. Thus, capitalism forces a person to possess, to earn money to support his existence, and exist to make money for exchanging goods.
Alienated Labor in Capitalist Society
While Marx considers this form of labor as negative, as can be concluded from the above-discussed aspects, then capitalism must be the cause of the alienation of labor. Moreover, there should be a feature or a set of features which can be eliminated in order to destroy such an unpleasant phenomenon as hired labor. Nevertheless, Marx gives several reasons for the appearance of the alienation of labor in capitalism but does not clarify the relationship between them (Shard, 2019). Thus, the source can be private ownership of production means, the division of labor, or the production of commodities itself (Shard, 2019). Moreover, it is not at all evident that alienated labor is derived from capitalism. Thus, this form of labor can be a special feature of any large-scale production system.
It was noted above that in a capitalist society, goods become the main participants in relations, while people take the position of owners of these goods. Marx’s theory focuses on humans’ nature, emphasizing potential and striving for self-expression in the form of labor. However, in a capitalist society, there is no doubt that the difference between a person’s capabilities and those which a person uses at work is very large (Shard, 2019). First of all, the reason may be the unification of the means of exchange of labor for means of survival. Thus, capitalism oppresses the individual’s development in favor of the whole society, including progress (Shard, 2019). Marx’s theory strives for humanization and individualization, while the system aims to eliminate individualism for the benefit of an effective mechanism.
Social and Political Implications
Wealth in capitalism is an instrument of control, and private property and means of production are its sources. Thus, from a social point of view, the alienation of labor determines society’s very social structure. Those who own the means represent the ruling capitalist class, while those who offer only their own labor are workers, the lower class. Nevertheless, both parts compose a unified system, the participants of which are codependent on each other. Capital is in individual ownership, not collective, which determines the purpose of its use. In a capitalist society, economic problems can arise because each capitalist pursues their personal goals, not focusing on society’s needs. Thus, social stratification and the level of income inequality between people can be extremely high. Since workers are accustomed to the impersonal fulfillment of work duties and the stop of their development, they cannot overcome, for example, poverty. Thus, the alienation of labor reduces the standard of living of the lower class of society.
From a political point of view, owning the production means and money in a capitalist society implies promoting one’s interests. The workers cannot resist the ruling class, as they fear the deprivation of wages and the impossibility of ensuring their existence. Thus, the capitalists can promote any political change, having the power to influence the lower class directly.
Conclusion
The alienation of labor is an integral part of capitalist society since it is built on producing and exchanging goods. Marx views such a process as inhumane, suppressing human nature, which implies the development and realization of potential. The main reason for the alienation of labor may be the unification of the means of ensuring survival. The phenomenon has many social, political, economic, and even psychological consequences for members of society. However, capitalism is a modern reality, which does not allow for revising the existing generally accepted order.
References
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Karlsson, J. C., & Månson, P. (2017). Concepts of work in Marx, Durkheim, and Weber. Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies, 7(2), 107−119.
Lavalette, M., & Ferguson, I. (2018). Marx: Alienation, commodity fetishism and the world of contemporary social work. Critical and Radical Social Work, 6(2), 197−213.
Lotz, C. (2018). Alienation, private property, and democracy: Why Worrell and Krier raise questions in the clouds. Critical Sociology, 44(2), 267−274.
Morris, J. (2018). Alienation. Irish Marxist Review, 7(20), 9−11.
Shard, J. (Ed.). (2019). A companion to nineteenth-century philosophy. John Wiley & Sons.
Vidal, M., Smith, T., Rotta, T., & Prew, P. (Eds.). (2019). The Oxford handbook of Karl Marx. Oxford University Press.