Marx and Weber theorized that modern society alienated people.

How do their approaches contrast each other and how their concepts
of alienation can be compared with Durkheim’s concept of anomie?

Political thinkers in Pakistan lament that man in the street is alienated. Do u

agree to the statement and if you agree give reasons. Discuss:

(a) Nature of alienation

(b) Integration
(c) Integrative patterns in Pakistan

What is Alienation?

Social alienation is a broad concept used by sociologists to describe the

experience of individuals or groups that feel disconnected from the
values, norms, practices, and social relations of their community or society
for a variety of social structural reasons, including and in addition to
economy.

KARL MARX’s Concept of Alienation

Introduction:

Karl Marx's theory of alienation describes the estrangement of people

from aspects of their “species-essence” (i.e. from their creative nature) as
a consequence of living in a capitalist society of stratified social classes.
The alienation from the self is a consequence of being a mechanistic part of
a social class, the condition of which estranges a person from their
humanity. As per Marx, the economic system itself is the cause of
alienation.
Notes by Muhammad Daud Saleemi (2nd Position in Pakistan, CSS 2019) 03066875141
Theoretical Basis:

Within the capitalist mode of production, the worker invariably loses the
ability to determine life and destiny, when deprived of the right to think
(conceive) of themselves as the director of their own actions; to determine
the character of said actions; to define relationships with other people;
and to own those items of value from goods and services, produced by
their own labor. Although the worker is an autonomous, self-realized
human being, but as an economic entity this worker is directed to goals
and diverted to activities that are dictated by the bourgeoisie, who own
the means of production, in order to extract from the worker the
maximum amount of surplus value, in the course of business competition
among industrialists.

In Marx’s Words:

Let us suppose that we had carried out production as human beings. Each of
us would have, in two ways, affirmed himself, and the other person.

(i) In my production I would have objectified my individuality, its

specific character, and, therefore, enjoyed a powerful manifestation
of my life during the activity.

(ii) (ii) In your enjoyment, or use, of my product I would have the direct
enjoyment of being conscious of having satisfied a human need by
my work. Our products would be so many mirrors in which we saw
reflected our essential nature

Types of Alienation:

1. From the Product of Labor (No Control over design and purpose)
Notes by Muhammad Daud Saleemi (2nd Position in Pakistan, CSS 2019) 03066875141
 Under capitalism it is the capitalists, motivated by the desire for
profit rather than the desire to meet real human needs who decide
which goods and services will be produced and the prices at
which they will be sold.

 The workers must accept that it is the capitalists rather than

themselves who determine the ultimate purpose of production: i.e.
profit. Hence workers have no control over the design-and-
production protocol, so the workers are said to be alienated from the
goods and services which they have actually produced.

 It must be recognized that in many cases goods produced for profit

do also meet real human need but that in other cases it is the creation
of false needs via advertising which help to generate profit.

2. From the Act of Production (No Creativity, No Satisfaction)

 Under capitalism workers have little or no overall control over the

production process which is often based upon the division of labor
involving the breaking down of the production process into an
endless sequence of simple repetitive and boring tasks which
give no opportunity for worker creativity, and offer little
psychological satisfaction for a “job well done”.

 No enjoyment of work, coerced to do only to survive

The worker is alienated from the act of production via two forms;
wage compulsion and the imposed production content. The worker is
bound to unwanted labor as a means of survival, labor is not
"voluntary but coerced" (forced labor). The worker is only able to
reject wage compulsion at the expense of their life and that of their
family. The distribution of private property in the hands of wealth
Notes by Muhammad Daud Saleemi (2nd Position in Pakistan, CSS 2019) 03066875141
 owners, combined with government enforced taxes compel workers
to labor. In a capitalist world our means of survival is based on
monetary exchange, therefore we have no other choice than to sell our
labor power and consequently be bound to the demands of the
capitalist.

 In Marx’s words:

“Labor is external to the worker i.e. it does not belong to his essential being.”

3. As a Producer i.e. Alienation of the worker from their

Gattungswesen (species-essence)

 To explain this type of alienation, we have to consider the theory

about human being presented by Karl Marx. In this, he considered
Man, not as an isolated entity or individual without any social life.
The word "species" describes the intrinsic human essence that is
characterized by a "plurality of interests", whereby every individual
has the desire and the tendency to engage in the many activities
that promote mutual human survival and psychological well-
being.

 According to Marx, this ability and desire to consciously shape things

around us is what makes one human. A person’s human nature is
actualized when he is free to subordinate his will to the external
demands he has imposed upon himself by his imagination, and not
the external demands imposed upon him by other people.

 However, capitalism takes away ‘Gattungswesen’ or the essence of

being human since the individual’s labor is forced and coerced. The
Notes by Muhammad Daud Saleemi (2nd Position in Pakistan, CSS 2019) 03066875141
 production of anything freely, is the expression of essential
nature of man. He becomes alienated from his species being
when his laboring activity is degraded to animal or mechanical
functions in “Estranged Labor”.

4. Alienation from other workers

 Capitalism reduces the labor of the worker to a

commercial commodity that can be traded in the competitive labor-
market, rather than as a constructive socio-economic activity that
is part of the collective common effort performed for personal
survival and the betterment of society.

 In a capitalist economy, the businesses who own the means of

production establish a competitive labor-market meant to extract
from the worker as much labor (value) as possible, in the form
of capital. The capitalist economy's arrangement of the relations
of production provokes social conflict by pitting worker against
worker, in a competition for "higher wages", thereby alienating them
from their mutual economic interests.

 Workers are defined in terms of their occupation rather than

they own individuality and workers will usually see other workers
as competitors for scarce employment rather than as collaborators.

Critical Analysis:

 It has been argued that under conditions of advanced capitalism

there are greater opportunities for worker satisfaction especially for
skilled manual workers in high technology industries which require
workers to use considerable individual autonomy, creativity and
judgement.
Notes by Muhammad Daud Saleemi (2nd Position in Pakistan, CSS 2019) 03066875141
  One can pursue different career choices as per one’s attitude and
potential, and thereby achieve satisfaction and purpose in work.
Entrepreneurship allows one to pursue one’s interests by providing
ample opportunities.

Max Weber’s Concept of Alienation

“The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and

intellectualization and, above all, by the disenchantment of the world."
— Max Weber

Marx, Durkheim, and Weber all differed in their idea of what caused
alienation.
 For Marx, it was the issue of class conflict.

 For Durkheim, it was a disorganized society trying to adapt,

causing normlessness or anomie.

Weber further noted in the Protestant Ethic and the Capitalism

(1904-5) that the “pursuit of wealth stripped of its religious and
ethical meaning” produced “specialists without spirit, sensualists
without heart”.
Introduction:

For Weber, it was because of legal rationality (instrumented rationality).

He says that bureaucracy (legal rational) is the most efficient form of
Notes by Muhammad Daud Saleemi (2nd Position in Pakistan, CSS 2019) 03066875141
authority, but that it would create an iron cage. He was afraid that people
would lose aspects such as emotion and values, which caused them to
challenge authority. When people find it rational to mindlessly obey the
rules (iron cage), then they fail to keep the system in check.

Rationalization of Society

 He argued that the redefinition of the connection between work and

piety in Protestantism, particularly Calvinism, shifted human effort
towards rational efforts aimed at achieving economic gain.

 After the industrial revolution, technology and science replaced the

power of religion; values, traditions and emotions were continuously
displaced in favor of formal and impersonal bureaucratic practices.

 The rational roots of this doctrine, he argued, soon grew

incompatible with the religious roots and so the latter were
eventually discarded. Rationalization relied on deep changes in
ethics, religion, psychology and culture; changes that first took place
in the Western civilization.

Dehumanizing Consequences of Rationalization

 Weber was ambivalent towards rationalization; while admitting it

was responsible for many advances, in particular, freeing humans
from traditional, restrictive and illogical social guidelines, he also
criticized it for dehumanizing individuals as "cogs in the

Notes by Muhammad Daud Saleemi (2nd Position in Pakistan, CSS 2019) 03066875141
 machine" and curtailing their freedom, trapping them in the
bureaucratic iron cage of rationality and bureaucracy.

 He was influenced by Nietzsche’s nihilistic view of modernity

which saw progress as hollow without any meaningful values.

 The bureaucratic efficiency of the organization can take away the

creativity of the people working in those organizations. They simply
have to ‘follow the rules’ and lose the ability to think for themselves.

 Related to rationalization is the process of disenchantment, in which

the world is becoming more explained and less mystical, moving
from polytheistic religions to monotheistic ones and finally to the
Godless science of modernity. Weber accepts that process of
rationalization and modernity has benefited mankind to a great
extent, but this progress has been achieved at the cost of
mechanizing the human life. With little or no place for mystic,
spiritual and emotional experiences in modern rationalized world,
human beings have been alienated and estranged from their inner
human selves.

Notes by Muhammad Daud Saleemi (2nd Position in Pakistan, CSS 2019) 03066875141