Alienation by Karl Marx - Dissertation Example

? Questions on Karl Marx Alienation, and J.S.Mill on Liberty Karl Marx Alienation Karl Marx developed his theory on alienation when he was criticizing political economy and capitalism. In capital economy, the bourgeoisie desired a society in which everything could be sold and bought for money. He considered selling as the practice of alienation. Brutal enclosures to land led to the creation of such a society. Majority members of the society were denied direct access to means of production and subsistence, thus creating a class of landless labourers. For them to survive, the labourers had to submit to wage labour, a new form of exploitation. Capitalism involved a fundamental adjustment in the relations between men, the materials of production, and the instruments of production. These fundamental adjustments meant that every aspect of human life underwent transformation (Allan 2004, p. 3). In the modern world, the reality of alienation is prevalent and can be seen everywhere. In simple terms, alienation means the separation from what is desirable or desired. Marx analyzes the alienation idea in the context of capitalist means of production with a goal of making profits. Marx identified the process of individual finding valuable things in nature and then taking them since they were freely available. The people modified these natural resources through working on them, thus enhancing their usefulness. Alienation has origins of the production of surplus value after satisfaction of all the immediate and basic needs. Surplus value implied wealth, and it became a product when some individuals realized that it could be used as an exchange for commodities if there is a shortage in supply of commodities (Allan 2004, p. 6). According to Karl Marx, there are four aspects of man’s alienation that arise in a capitalist society. The aspects include the product of labor, fellow human beings relations, the labor process, and human nature. Marx argued that the product of labor of the employee is alienated from the object he or she produces since it is bought, possessed and disposed off by somebody else (the capitalist). In all societies, individuals employ their creative capabilities to produce commodities, which they exchange and sell amongst themselves. Marx believes that, in capitalism, this becomes an alienated activity since the worker cannot utilize the products that he or she produces to engage in other productive activities. Marx argues that there is the intensification in the alienation of the labourer from what he produces, when the products of labour begin to dominate the labourer (Allan 2004, p. 12). The worker is paid less than the value he creates. He argues that a portion of what the labourer produces is appropriated by his employer leading to exploitation of the worker. Workers employ creative labour in the products they produce, but they cannot obtain any creative labour to replace it. Marx also describes the labour process as the second factor of alienation. Marx recognized this as a lack of control over the production process. He argues that lack of control in the process of work transforms the capacity of workers to work innovatively into the opposite and the laborer experiences activity as passivity. The worker views his or her actions as independent of himself or herself and does not consider these actions as belonging to him or her any longer (Allan 2004, p. 15). The fetishism of commodities refers to individuals’ misconceptions of the products of labour once they enter the exchange; this misconception accords to forms of leading roles. The metamorphosis of value is a story about the man, his productive capacity and products, and what happens to these products in a capitalist society. Misreading this tale as one about the activities of inanimate objects, attributing them qualities which could only be possessed by human beings, positing living relations for what is dead, is what Marx refers as the fetishism of commodities. Marx argues that this fetishism of products has its origin in the weird social character of labour that produces them. This character is reproduced in the product value (surplus value) (Allan 2004, p. 30). Allan (2004, p. 35) concludes that, as the intangible product of alienated labour, value articulates the relations of people engaged in such labour. However, although value contains human relations, it essentially conveys them as relations between their products. Marx argues that it is through the monetary articulation of exchange value that the relationships among individuals at work have remained carefully hidden. Marx maintains that it is this eventual money form of the world of merchandise, which conceals, instead of disclosing the social personality of private labour, and the social relations among the individual producers. Division of labor and specialization occurred as a result of alienation and the surplus value. In one direction, specialization means that other ways of doing things and knowledge are forgotten over successive generations. The specialist must seek support from those who are still having forgotten knowledge and ways of doing things. In exchange, these specialists offer something in value. J.S. Mill on Liberty I agree with the statement that Mill’s essay, On Liberty, was crafted bearing in mind the necessity to protect individuals against the social and political power, and at the same time protecting capitalism with an aim of attaining economic development. Through his essay, Mill stresses the need of individuals’ freedom and mentions the role of the government to protect the capitalist with the aim of stimulating economic growth and development. Mill examines the essential economic processes on which the society is based; production of goods, the distribution of merchandise, exchange, the effect of social progress on distribution and production, and the role of authorities in the economic affairs. He analyzes the basic prerequisites that enable production to exist which are natural objects and labour. Labour facilitates the creation of objects for human use. Some labour renders human beings serviceable to themselves and to the society. For example, doctors and teachers and labor of giving pleasure or entertainment (David 2006, p. 15). In addition to natural objects and labor, production requires capital. Mill also discusses the social forms of production, such as the combination of labor, cooperation, small and large scale production, and the augment in labor, which leads to the increase of capital and production. He also discusses the need for equal distribution of resources as it is apparent in the allocation of property and produce. He discusses the consequences on the distribution of such factors as customs, competition, peasants’ ownership, slavery, and the various types of workers, profits, wages, and rents. Mill recognizes the difference between capitalist and workers, both of whom share the products of labor. The forces of demand and supply determine the exchange value of services and products (David 2006, p. 18). Mill examines the relationship between the society’s progress and its economic affairs. He describes social progress in terms of the enhanced protection of property and citizens, the increase of knowledge, transformation of taxes for them to be less oppressive, and the avoidance of war. In addition, he includes the prosperity of individuals as a result of business capacities, which include more effective employment of the nationals through education. Mill analyzes the government’s influence on the society, arguing that the government’s functions can be divided into the optional and the necessary. Necessary functions are those inseparable from the very idea of government, such as taxation, security, and protection. Society considers other functions of the government as optional and subject to question (David 2006, p. 23). Mill asserts that the government should not interfere with individual liberty. Mill emphasizes that the government ought to restrict itself to performing only the necessary functions. The government should forbid and punish individual behaviour, which harms other people, such as fraud, force, or negligence. Mill proposes the adoption of a laissez-faire policy by the governments, in that they would refrain from interfering with individual choice. The governments should also grant unconstrained liberty to people, who must be able to pursue their contentment without restrictions (David 2006, p. 25). David (2006, p. 28) observes that Mill’s essay, On Liberty, has some major themes. First, the struggle between the authority and liberty; individuals frequently felt that their rights were infringed by overzealous government, and they fought for the ability to influence the government actions. People’s liberty has been compacted by various governments thereby resulting to democracies. Secondly, coercion; Mill is against individual or societal coercion in all cases, except when individual’s actions are harming others. He thinks it is an apparent abuse when coercion is employed to persuade an individual to stop an action that only affects him or her. The above analysis shows the Mill’s essay, On Liberty aimed to protect individuals from social or political power. For example, individuals fought to have the capability of influencing their government actions, and that the society or government should not punish those individuals whose actions have no effects to others but only to themselves. The governments should not interfere with individuals’ liberties. On the other hand, the essay asserts the need to protect the capitalist economic development. As demonstrated by Mill, the following are the basic factors of production capital, labor, land, and entrepreneurship. Therefore, capitalists provide capital goods, workers provide labour, and landowners provide natural resources. Mill asserts that the society’s progress is dependent on enhanced protection of property and citizens by the government, the increase of knowledge, fair taxation, and war avoidance by the government. The society needs to promote entrepreneurship, by enhancing business capacities and improving the effectiveness of labor through education and training (David 2006, p. 30). References List Allan, W.W. (2004). Karl Marx, London, Routledge. p. 3 – 55. David, M.D. (2006). John Stuart Mill’s on Liberty, London, Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd. p. 15- 50. Read More