Karl Marx on Work

(I have no idea whereI got this. Pretty goodthough)

Karl Marx (1818-1883)Communist Manifesto (1848) with F. Engels

Capital (4 vols 1867-1910)

Karl Marx on Work

What makes us distinctively human is our capacity for intelligent and creative work – ingenuity

Marx: “…labour, is the worker’s own life-activity, the manifestation of his own life”

Karl Marx on Work

Work should use our creative powers and develop all sides of our potential.

Each one of us has the potential to develop a wide variety of skills and capacities.

We are most human: -- when we work because we want to, and

because we like our work

-- when work is self-rewarding -- our life finds meaning in our work

Karl Marx and Capitalism

A relatively small elite owns and controls society’s means of production

Most people sell their ability to work to these owners of society’s resources

in return, they receive a wage

Under competitive market pressure to reduce costs, owners take control of the process of work and transform it

Marx, Capitalism and Alienation

Alienate – estrange, transfer ownership of, turn away, divert, etc

Marx, Capitalism and Alienation

Marx Wrote: “the alienation of the worker is expressed thus: the more he produces, the less he can consume; the more value he creates, the less value he has… Labour produces fabulous things for the rich, but misery for the poor. Machines replace labour, and jobs diminish, while other workers turn into machines…”

Marx, Capitalism and Alienation

To survive, workers must sell the one thing that makes them distinctively human: the capacity for inventive and creative work

Workers as a social class therefore become alienated from their human nature, what makes them essentially human

Workers become alienated from their fellow human beings

The Psychological Effects of Alienation.

Alienation is a sense of powerlessness.

It is an objective feature in capitalism as we are no longer in touch with our species being.

Species being is the “natural” state of humans. It means a “being that is both conscious of itself and as a conscious member of society.”

Alienation is estrangement. It is the “modern” world that estranges all of us.

The capitalist is alienated from himself because he is obsessed with money; because all things are commodities he no longer values things per se, but only their capital worth.

Thus, for the capitalist, his capital can be taken away from him so he is alienated.

He is alienated from the material world and from his own psyche.

He is alienated from himself.

States Simon (1995) Alienation is “dehumanization.”

“This is because of the impersonality of bureaucratic structures the high valuation of material goods and status, and the decline of community.”

“Dehumanization is object-directed when people are regarded as less than human for purposes of profit, exploitation, and manipulation.”

(Simon, 1995)