This paper applies Karl Marx's concept of alienation to contemporary American society through the lens of personal experience in retail work. The author examines Marx's theory that capitalism alienates workers in four distinct ways: from the products of their labor, from the production process itself, from their species being, and from other workers. Using detailed examples from a full-time position in a large retail outlet, the paper evaluates the relevance and accuracy of Marx's framework. The author concludes that while Marx's theory holds merit, the degree of alienation varies by organization and notes that unionization may mitigate alienation by enabling workers to collectively resist exploitation.
Alienation can be defined simply as the phenomenon whereby people feel like foreigners or aliens in the world or society in which they live (Marx, in Calhoun, 2012; University, 2006). The concept of alienation is based on the ideology that people were living in harmony at some point in the past before something disrupted that state, creating enmity between humans and nature, and leaving them feeling like aliens in their own society.
Karl Marx applied this concept of alienation to the theme of labor and work. He argued that under the capitalist system, which allows for private ownership of property, society is divided into two distinct classes: the property-owners and those who do not own property and spend their lives working for the property-owners. Under this system, workers become increasingly alienated from the world and suffer impoverishment as their employers grow richer. Workers are denied the opportunity to own or even use the value produced by their labor. The property-owners, who own the factors of production, do everything in their power to ensure that they capture the full value of their workers' output.
In the end, the worker becomes estranged, develops a strong feeling of mistrust, and is frustrated by the fact that he is continually contributing to the wealth of a world to which he does not belong. According to Marx, workers become alienated in four distinct ways: from i) the products of their work, ii) the act of production, iii) the species being, and iv) other workers (Marx, in Calhoun, 2012). This essay uses the context of contemporary American society to assess how accurately Marx's theory applies to modern labor. I examine the applicability of each of the four types of alienation through personal experience as a full-time attendant in a large retail outlet.
In this type of alienation, the worker becomes estranged from the product of his work because he feels that it does not even contribute to his own personal life—it only adds value to the bourgeoisie and the greater world of property-owners to which he does not belong (Marx, in Calhoun, 2012). The worker feels alienated from this product because he has no say over its design, either as a producer or as a consumer. The property-owners control the workers' labor, the design of the product, the mode of production, and continually strive to use these to shape consumer preferences in order to maximize profit.
This form of alienation fits perfectly in my retail position. I carry out a wide range of duties, primarily arranging products neatly on shelves and assisting customers in locating items within the store. My work involves provision of services rather than physical products. Alienation from the "product" in this case results from the fact that despite the immense role I play in ensuring that customers are properly attended to and that they maintain loyalty to the company, the company reaps all the profits with no recognition for my individual efforts. The value I create remains entirely appropriated by the employer, while I receive only a fixed wage regardless of the profit I help generate.
The worker becomes estranged from the production process because it patterns work as an endless sequence of meaningless, trivial, repetitive, and discrete motions yielding very little satisfaction or value to the performer (University, 2006). In my case, alienation from the act of production comes from having to wake up every day and spend twelve hours doing the same monotonous act of wiping dust off shelves and rearranging the same commodities I arranged the previous day. This cycle offers no intellectual stimulation, no sense of progress, and no meaningful contribution to any larger purpose.
Work, to most humans, is a life purpose. In fact, it is the fabric through which humans actualize the command to improve creation and develop the world into a better place. Being able to convert something useless and valueless into something of higher value constitutes the core identity of the human race. The capitalist arrangement, however, does not allow workers to actualize this desire or even enjoy the fulfillment of their intrinsic human essence.
In my case, alienation from my species being occurs because I am always being directed on how to carry out my duties; I have no power to do what I desire. What I love most about my job is the opportunity to interact with customers and reinforce my interpersonal and social skills. However, I am not granted the power to actualize this desire. The store manager will sometimes, despite knowing that I enjoy engaging with customers, post me to the storage room, where I have no opportunity to fulfill this aspect of my human potential. This denial of autonomy prevents me from exercising the creative and relational capacities that define meaningful human work.
The capitalist owns and controls the worker's labor and places his own profit motive above the needs of the worker. As a consequence, the worker perceives him as a hostile alien and becomes estranged from the entire capitalist community (Marx, in Calhoun, 2012). In my case, this kind of alienation arises from the fact that the company cares only about making profits, with total disregard for workers' social well-being.
When the manager posts me to the storage room, where all I do is carry out stock-taking with no opportunity to talk or interact with customers and other employees—despite knowing that this is what I enjoy—I become alienated. The same alienation occurs when a supervisor shouts at employees to stop talking and concentrate on their work. Both situations symbolize the company's disregard for workers' social well-being and prevent the formation of genuine solidarity among workers. Rather than uniting as a class to address common grievances, workers are isolated and pitted against each other in competition for managerial approval.
"Assessing theory relevance and unionization effects"
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