Karl Marx

Paper Summary:

In this article the writer analyzes the views of Karl Marx, in particular with regards to his views of the alienation of a worker. The writer discusses that Karl Marx defined this type of alienation as being a social problem, which had been in fact created by the bourgeois management of production on one hand, and exchange on the other. The writer notes that today, the condition of the worker is not as alienated as described by Karl Marx during his times, but still, a human being still produces automatically to earn his livelihood, rather then producing without any sort of external necessity, perhaps like an artist or a musician. The writer concludes that in a society where the forces of the market are able to dictate human behavior, people would never be able to realize their full potential, and this would mean that capitalism today, which interferes with the true nature of a human being, must be abolished as far as it is a possibility.

From the Paper:

"In other words, Karl Marx was of the firm opinion that in general, a worker was alienated to a large extent. Perhaps, said Karl Marx, the obvious expression of this alienation was seen in the fact that the worker was quite unable, in capitalist times, of actually owning what he had produced with his effort and hard work. The fact cannot be denied, that the existing conditions of production did indeed dehumanize the worker, to such an extent that he became a mere animal, in following his routine and losing his creativity. The worker would also feel alienated because of the fact that work is not 'himself', it is outside of him, and therefore, not at all a part of his true nature. He becomes both mentally and physically 'debased', and is happy only during his leisure time, which is not much, and he is almost like an animal, in the basic satisfaction of his animal functions of eating, sleeping, procreating, while in his creativity and so on, he is reduced to an animal like thinking. Therefore, the animal becomes human, and the human, animal."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Avineri, Shlomo. The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx. Cambridge University Press. 1970.
• Karl Marx and Informal Education. Retrieved From http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-marx.htm Accessed 17 April, 2006
• Karl Marx 1818 to 1883. Retrieved From http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/marx.html Accessed 17 April, 2006
• Marx, Capitalism and Alienation. Retrieved From http://faculty.frostburg.edu/phil/forum/Marx.htm Accessed 18 April, 2006
• Marx, Karl. Capital, Volume 1, a Critique of Political Economy. Penguin Classics. 1992.

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