...Karl Marx (1818-83) grew up in Germany under the same conservative and oppressive conditions under which Kant and other German philosophers had to live. The Enlightenment had had some liberating effects on German life here and there, but most German principalities were still autocratic, and the idea of democracy was combated by all their rulers. The presence of police spies at major universities was a regular feature of German student life, and some students served long prison sentences for their political activism. As a law and philosophy student at the University of Berlin, Marx joined a political club that advocated political democracy. Very soon after receiving his doctorate, however, his ideas went beyond mere political reform. His future friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels introduced him to socialist and communist ideas, i. e., to ideas which progressed from mere political to social and economic reforms. For the rest of his life Marx dedicated himself to the project of radically restructuring modern industrial society along socialist and communist lines. In time he became the single most important theoretician and prominent leader of a growing international labor movement. Since Marx participated in the Revolution of 1848 as an influential newspaper editor (in a revolution that was defeated by the monarchists, and the defeat of which led scores of liberal Europeans to emigrate to the United States and elsewhere), he found it preferable to leave the stifling and backward...
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...Karl Marx states capitalism distorts human’s relationships with the environment. Over two centuries later, such a situation is apparent in the Green Revolution in Amazon. In fact, capitalism distorts human nature and welfare (Rizer 2011). Marx theory on capitalism effects on the environment explains the environmental crisis of the Green Revolution. Aristotle is a materialist (Rist 1996). Aristotle theory on science separates into two categories which are functional developmental essentialism and property essentialist (Rist 1997). The two parts of the essentialism is known as the Natural Slate Model. For essentialism, diversity is unimportant only the ideal is important (McLaughlin 2015). Aristotle theory of progress states an interfering force cause deviation from the linear view of time. Christians explanation for deviation was effect of God and interbreeding (Greenwood 1984). The Enlightenment cause people to believe the ideology of progress was not definite and based on God or any super nature force. The enlightenment produced a great thinker Hegel, and most importantly Hegel heavily influence Marx’s view on history. Hegel believe that history is composed of clash of ideas called called the thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. The thesis and antithesis leads to a synthesis. Marx views the whole of history as class struggle. Marx theory of human nature was based on critique of Hegel, which states changes in human life are beyond human control and humans are abstract individuals...
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...This paper will be about the main elements of Karl Marx’s work, which includes the Paris Manuscripts, which will focus on alienation. The Communist Manifesto, which will focus on Marx’s political and economic theories and Capital Vol. 1., Marx’s final work about how profits are made by the capitalist. Karl Marx was a liberal reformist who believed that capitalism could be reformed and inequality and exploitation of the working classes could be addressed and abolished. (Stones, p.22) . In 1844 Karl Marx wrote and published “The economic and philosophic manuscripts of 1844”, better known as “The Paris Manuscripts.” This was Karl Marx’s first work, where he writes a study about alienation of workers. (Hughes p.27) What does one mean by alienation? Karl Marx states that the alienated person feels a lack of meaning in his life, or a lack of self-realization. (Hughes p.27) “One must understand, he argues, that there are three types of alienation. The first type of alienation is alienation from oneself. The second type of alienation is alienation from his fellow human beings. The third type of alienation is alienation from the world as a whole. These three forms of alienation are interconnected, and Karl Marx describes the connections between them. This is the core of his approach to the problem of alienation (Monthly Review, 2000, p.36-53). An example of alienation does not have to stem from the workplace, however. For example, I know many persons who attend the same church as I do...
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...“Explore the ideas of Karl Marx, discussing his theories and views toward capitalism. Discuss how these matters compare to modern day economic conditions, and consider the ethical and sustainability matters that are raised for today's managers.” Karl Marx; an economist, sociologist, revolutionary and historian, whose theories continue to influence economic thought for managers today. Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5,1818 – March 14, 1883) put forth many theories with regards to economics, politics and society that established the base on which Marxism was formed. His critique of the philosophies of other theorists and critical analysis of capitalism has influenced economic perception, and contributed largely toward the current understanding of capital and labour and the relationship that exists. In Karl Marx’s criticism of capitalism, he discussed many social matters such as ‘alienation’, the dominance by the ‘bourgeoisie’ over the ‘proletariat’; issues with regard to labour, such as the de-skilling and dehumanisation of workers as technological advances came about and capitalists strived to maximise ‘surplus value’ through the ‘exploitation’ of human labour. Although times have changed and this type of work environment is not as common, it is still an ever present situation in places such as China and India where cheap labour is employed to maximise the return for those in ‘control’. Advancements in technology continue, to the extent where the duties of workers can be performed...
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...Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844a) Marx explains that there are four aspects of alienated labour under capitalism. Wolff (2002, p. 29) writes: “The basic idea [of alienation] is that two things which belong together come apart” [1]. I shall be examining the four forms of alienated labour indicated by Marx in his Manuscripts and I will be using the concept of ‘unalienated labour’ as a tool to clarify what Marx meant by ‘alienated labour’. For, as Ollman puts it: “Alienation can only be grasped as the absence of unalienation, each state serving as a point of reference for the other. And for Marx, unalienation is the life man leads in communism” [2]. Marx explains that the capitalist alienates the products of labour from the workers by forcing them to produce products for both him and the buying public. But, according to Marx, since there would be no private property under communism, it is there that man would then be free to express his individuality through production (Marx, 1844b, p. 278). I will argue that although some will remain unconvinced by Marx’s theory of alienated labour because it relies on what they see as Marx’s warped conception of human nature, the theory is still useful to those struggling to understand the difficulties imposed on them by capitalist society. The first category of alienated labour analysed by Marx is: alienation from the product of labour. Under capitalism the workers produce products, but Marx argues they are alienated from the products...
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...What is alienation? When Karl Marx published “The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844,” he set out to outline the process by which the capitalist mode of production exploits workers. He called this phenomenon alienation, meaning that working people put everything into their jobs but get little in return. Marx explained that, under capitalism, workers are alienated in the following three ways: within the production process itself; from the objects produced by their labor; and from nature and the rest of humanity. Alienation from the production process For most of the working class, labor is nothing more than a means for physical survival. The labor process—working a job—is not educational or enriching in any way. Marx refers to this process as “the sacrifice of vitality.” This means workers most often hate their jobs, but have to do them anyway. Few blue-collar or white-collar workers could make the argument that they greatly benefit or prosper from their 9-to-5 jobs. Each worker’s time, energy and intellect is focused solely on profit-making for the capitalist owners. As Marx noted, under capitalism, “He who does not produce (that is, the owner) has dominion over production and over the product.” For example, the wait staff at a restaurant—plus cooks, busboys, cleaners, hosts, bouncers—give much of their energy so that the business will continue to operate. Typically, they dedicate 40 to 60 hours per week to the restaurant, which they could otherwise spend with...
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...three paragraphs) commentary on how that concept is central to Marx’s critique of capitalism. Marx’s introduces human nature basically how humans adapt to various things to survive. There are many questions how people react when being alienated in the work place. Either A. The worker doesn’t accept being alienated, or B. The worker accepts alienation due to the fact they are content on meeting their living standards outside of the work place, so they suck it up and deal with the alienation. However, it is in human nature for...
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...Chapter 4 Society I. Society. Society refers to people who interact in a defined territory and share culture. This chapter explores four important theoretical views explaining the nature of human societies, focusing on the work of Gerhard Lenski, Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim. II. Gerhard Lenski: Society and Technology. Gerhard Lenski (Nolan & Lenski, 2010) focuses on sociocultural evolution, the changes that occur as a society acquires new technology. According to Lenski, the more technological information a society has, the faster it changes. New technology sends ripples of change through a society’s entire way of life. Lenski’s work identifies five types of societies based on their level of technology. A. Hunting and gathering societies use simple tools to hunt animals and gather vegetation. Until about twelve thousand years ago, all humans were hunter-gatherers. At this level of sociocultural evolution, food production is relatively inefficient; groups are small, scattered, and usually nomadic. Society is built on kinship, and specialization is minimal, centered chiefly around age and gender. These societies are quite egalitarian and rarely wage war. B. Horticultural and pastoral societies employ a technology based on using hand tools to raise crops. In very fertile and also in arid regions, pastoralism, technology that supports the domestication of animals, develops instead of horticulture. In either case, these strategies encourage much larger societies to emerge...
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...In Marx’s Alienated Labor, he explains how Capitalism alienates people and turns them into objects as opposed to subjects or people. He goes over, in this, the effects the division between capital and labor, private property, and greed on the “have nots” of society. In the workplace, the working class, the labourers, undergo a process to which the title of Marx’s manuscript is named. To be separated from one’s work, to be seen as a replaceable, to then be seen as an object, and finally to view others as such, This is the is the process of Alienation Marx depicts in his manuscript. This process that we have so readily accepted as a part of society. As Marx says, “We have accepted its language and its laws” (pg 58). Is this process actually forced...
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...is money. The money has become the root of all evils. Disease, famine, political infighting human rights abuses are all products as a result of lack of money, control of money, and the hoarding of money. In this paper, the extent to which money has corrupt human beings is analyzed. The paper will look at the reasons as to why the evils due to money issue arise and how they are related to alienation as expressed by Karl Marx in his paper-alienated labor. Marx became revolutionary figure because he came to sure that capitalism could not be reformed. At the end, capitalism could only create estrangement and alienation. As Marx describes, there is important connections between greed, private property, the separation of labor, monopoly, exchange and competition, capital and landed property, value and devaluation of man and competition. There is connection between the entire systems of estrangement and that of the money system. Karl Marx perspective Karl points to the common connection between money and the evil. He demonstrates in the consumerism, greed, and profiteering characteristic of capitalism. “Money, and all it symbolizes, is the root of all evils in a deeper”. Money if viewed from outside the system may be seen to do something insidious. It eliminates the very concepts of evil. On the other hand, it makes it impossible to discriminate evil and good. Money is shorthand means to say that capitalistic relations, trade and exchange, market value ushers in a confused moral world...
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...Critique and Revolution: The Faces of Karl Marx “The nobility of man shines upon us from their work hardened bodies.” (Manuscripts, 100)[1]. And according to Karl Marx, that is the bottom line. In Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 and Manifesto of the Communist Party[2], two of his most profound works, Marx outlines both his harsh critique of capitalism and his prophetic theory of impending communist revolution. Although these texts are extremely complex—Manuscripts is described often as the hardest sixty pages of modern philosophy—their main points can be summed up concisely. For Marx, a worker’s labor, and therefore product, is an extension of himself, and any practice that separates the two, most obviously capitalism’s private property, essentially tears the man apart. A system such as this is beyond repair, and the only feasible solution is a forceful and complete communist revolution ending in the destruction of private property and the reunion of mankind with his labor. The complex philosophizing behind these two doctrines will be revealed shortly, but now the question arises, are they consistent? More specifically, do the circumstances that exist under capitalism, as described in his critique, put the world in a realistic position to undergo his desired revolution? Taking his opinions of the world under capitalism as fact, the answer is yes: the desperation of alienation will drive the growing majority of men to unite and revolt. That said, a thorough examination...
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...Karl Marx and Max Webber both many had many philosophies of the capitalism and its effects on society. Their ideas helped pave the way and expand on theories of previous sociologists. Both men have a deep insight of socioeconomic class in the origins and development of modern capitalism. This paper will analyze the impact of capitalism on society as perceived by both men and the areas in which they agreed, disagreed, and expanded on the ideas of the other. In many ways, the Weberian theory was “rounding out” Marx’s theories, working within the traditions of Marxian (Ritzer, page 26). Weber viewed Marxists as economic determinists who offered single-cause concepts on societal life (27). Marx’s material orientation and its effect on society was something that Weber did agree with completely. Weber had a strong belief that most ideas are what shapes an economy, while Marx believed that it is the economy (and the materials within it, help to define our ideas (27). Weber was said to have taken Marx’s ideas and, “turned Marx on his head” (27). The inverse relationship between Marx and Weber transcends into many tremendous ideas on capitalism and the effects on society. Both sociologists have unique ideas on the driving measures that led to the development and the rise of capitalism. One of Weber’s most famous works called the, Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, dealt with the origins of capitalism and their “ethos”; ideas that are engraved into religious beliefs. Weber...
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...The economic structures within capitalism are controlled by the wealthy who have and manipulate the means to produce excess. The view of the natural effect by Marx contradicted the political economist; for Marx it was a social evolution “as instruments of oppression that dramatically affect people’s life chances” (Allan 2014:60). Marx perceived the “oppressive social relations” as a determined factor to alienate the labor force, “from the work process, the product, and other people” (Allan 2014:71-72). Marx did not develop these theories, he only built on Adam Smith’s...
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...contemporary world, one of the most important concept of sociology of work is alienation. “The sense that our own abilities, as human beings, are taken over by other entities”(Anthony Giddens ,1989:224). The more people transform the world themselves, the more the world becomes strange for them and the more people experience themselves as aliens in that contemporary world. The world faced a rapid technological process. On the contrary, people experience of uneasiness about our technological being in the world. Some sociologists maintain that work technology has an important impact on the level of job satisfaction or dissatisfaction of industrial workers in their workplace behaviour. Many people become alienated by doing their repetitive as well as boring job. An oversimplifying example of alienation is when worker attaches tires onto a car in a auto manufacturing plant. This essay will examine Karl Marx's contribution on alienation as well as contribution of Robert Blauner. Initially, Karl Marx claimed that alienation exists whenever and wherever there is Capitalism(Kennett, 2004). Marx maintains that alienation is interior part of the capitalist labour process, and that is why he considers that alienation is an objective state where all workers find themselves(Noon, 2007). He argues that there are four manifestations of alienation under industrial capitalism. The first manifestation is “product alienation”, it occurs when workers see themselves as a product which is owned by the...
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...Alienation is a concept that describes an isolated and separated circumstance in the workplace. Browne (2011:380) notes “Alienation is the condition where workers have no job satisfaction or fulfillment from their work”. Alienation could cause some severe consequences. In 2010, thirteen employees, who worked for a Chinese company—Foxconn, committed suicided. (BBC) In this case, it is possible that the suicide event is due to that Foxconn is the assembly line of Apple, which means it is technology employed. Mitra (2010:11) points out that as the technology becomes more sophisticated, the level of alienation, which results from technology, becomes higher. The main purpose of this essay is to examine how far the complexity of the technology employed is the prime cause of alienation in the work place. It will first consider the Marx’s main points about alienation, and it will then compare that to the main ideas of Blauner’s theory. After that, it will analyse Gallie’s thesis of alienation. Marx’s theory indicates that alienation is objective. Which means alienation is there even if the workers do not feel be alienated, and it is physical. Craib (1997:88) disputes that Marxist’s thesis of alienation is the way that human lose their power and are alienated from our world. Edgell (2012) deems that“ For Marx, alienation is rooted in the structure of industrial capitalism”. This shows that capitalism is the significant cause of alienation in Marx’s theory. Moreover, Marxist perspectives...
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