Alienation and Anomie

Alienation

Karl Marx saw alienation as an outcome of a particular mode of production in which fundamental human relations are undermined. In capitalist economies, Marx theorized, workers are separated from the products they produce, they do not control the production process, they are socially isolated from their fellow workers, and they are denied the natural benefits of engaging in meaningful work. The relations of production in modern capitalism represented a change from previous economic arrangements in which people generally had more control over their work and the products they produced. With the advent of industrial capitalism workers began receiving wages in exchange for their labor while the capitalists appropriated the products workers produced. Because the fruits of their labor now become the property of the owners, they appear as alien objects, disconnected from the workers and the human labor that created them. And because workers no longer controlled the terms, conditions, or products of their employment, they also became estranged from the production process itself. As inherently social creatures, Marx believed humans thrive on cooperation and the pursuit of common goals, but because capitalism demands competition, it forces workers to act in opposition to their collectivist nature and isolates people from one another as they pursue their individual self-interests. As Marx saw it, industrial capitalism divorced workers from the fruits of their labor, made them into cogs in the machinery of production, and created adversarial relationships between workers. The result was a fundamental dehumanization of workers that he called alienation.

Although alienation is a useful concept in understanding modern relations among workers and between workers and production processes, today the idea is less frequently used in its original Marxian formulation. However, George Ritzer's work on what he terms McDonaldization, an extension of Max Weber's critique of mechanization and rationality, suggests a link to Marx's notion of alienation. According to Ritzer, modern societies value efficiency, control, calculability, predictability, and the use of technology. One result is that human labor is replaced by nonhuman technologies that make workers interchangeable and easily replaceable. Consequently, work loses its intrinsic value and becomes unrewarding and dehumanizing for many. People with little autonomy and control over their work lives may experience frustration and anxiety that can affect their relationships with coworkers as well as their personal relationships outside of the workplace.

One can also see the concept of alienation in the work of Robert Putnam, who applies it to his analysis of contemporary political culture. Putnam contends that changes in modern social arrangements have led to a reduction of participation in civic organizations, indicating that people are becoming more socially isolated. As a result, the sense of community, social solidarity, and common goals give way to an increasingly atomized civil society. As people disengage from community life and participation in traditional institutions of civic engagement declines, Putnam fears that the viability and vitality of democratic society will suffer.

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