Is That All There Is?” is a compilation of Karl Marx’s thoughts on German economic and political concerns. In the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, Marx argues that capitalist society is responsible for the estrangement of the laborer. The capitalist mode of production restricts man from acting in accordance with his humanity by ensuring that his labor is solely for profit.
The theory of capitalism is diverting in the sense that it provides false hope for betterment. The structure of capitalism coerces individuals to prioritize collective interests over their autonomy as social beings. This debases man’s special bond with his species, as it asks him to abandon his deepest connection to humanity while offering the hope of becoming a better social being.
As a result of this contradiction, Marx affirms that man’s labor alienates him from himself and his species. However, I am here to argue that although man may feel alienated from himself and the product of his work, he has the choice and option to free himself from notions of capital enslavement. Within this essay, I will define the estrangement of labor and the four main dimensions of alienation evident in a capitalist society. I will discuss how alienated labor comes about as a result of capitalism and why such labor is not socially commendable.
Furthermore, I will elaborate on the concept of non-alienated labor and how it differs from alienated labor in a capitalist society. Ultimately, I will explain why Marx’s critique of capitalism is unfounded and demonstrate how labor under capitalism can be fulfilling. Alienation or estrangement occurs when man’s labor is objectified, resulting in a product that does not benefit him. This process is alienating because it prevents self-realization and instead creates something that is independent and foreign to the worker (Gid 11).
Marx notes that labor is external to the laborer and does not belong to his essential being. In this work, the worker does not affirm himself but denies himself. The worker does not feel content but unhappy, and he does not develop freely; instead, he mortifies his body and ruins his mind (EPM 74). It is clear that the end result of labor is an object in which both the realization of labor and the loss of realization become definite. This object is both external to and empowered by the worker’s labor; it becomes a power on its own, something hostile and alien (EMP 72). According to Marx, therefore, the product of labor seems to be alienation, and the relationship between the worker and his product is an act thereof. Furthermore, alienation in the work domain has four aspects: man lacks control over his products; man is alienated in the work task itself; man is alienated from himself as producer; man is also alienated from human community – from his species being.
The aim of the alienation of man from the product of his labor is the product itself. This object does not exist by itself, but as a result of human activity: labor. The worker lacks control over the disposal of their products, since what they produce is appropriated by others and they do not benefit from it (Giddens 12). Furthermore, the relationship between labor and production becomes estranged because the worker’s activity is both forced and external – forced in that it is not voluntary, and external in that through laboring, the worker denies themselves.
It is not only during the production of an object that man feels separated from his product, but also in contributing to the means of production and engaging in the activity of production. The worker’s activity becomes objectified into a commodity that is alien to him and holds power over his being. This turns labor into a means to an end rather than an end in itself. This is demonstrated by the fact that as soon as there is no physical or other compulsion, men flee from labor like the plague” (EMP 75).
Such labor alienates man from his species-being because it estranges him from nature and, in turn, himself. The relationship between man and nature is dual; man both lives on and is a part of nature. Man’s species-being, which encompasses the natural mode of human existence or humanity, involves society. As a social being, man’s conscious activity is directed towards the species itself.
Moreover, the activity of production is a part of man’s character. However, this character becomes perverted twice. Firstly, when man no longer produces freely what he needs to exist (i.e., when labor is alienated). Secondly, as man takes individual life rather than social life as the focus of his activity.
For example, in Marx’s day when textile mills were the pervasive factory form, women would produce blankets. However, it was no longer for their own use value.” Instead, the blanket would be produced by an alienated laborer according to a plan that the worker did not devise herself. If the actual work could have been broken down then the product would be taken from the laborer and sold at market value.
Due to this process what was produced by labor became a commodity and its value could be sold for its exchange value. It is easy to see how man becomes alienated from his labor as a result of capitalist mode of production.
Capitalism thrives on the private ownership of the means of production. Its form involves competition, and its goal is to create goods for profit. Competition ensures that firms with maximally efficient productive activity achieve this goal best. This optimization only occurs when laborers individually perform specific tasks that contribute maximally to the firm.
What makes matters worse is that laborers have nothing to sell but their labor, leaving them no choice but to work in order to gain their means of subsistence. Therefore, their labor is forced.
The commodities that he helps to produce are sold at a price greater than the sum of their input costs, in order to make a profit. Since the additional value comes only from the laborer’s value extracted during production, the capitalist exacts an arbitrary wage for the laborer that is less than the value per unit time added to the commodity by the laborer during production. This surplus value is widely recognized as The American Dream.” We live in a country where capitalists are free to exploit the working class in order to increase their profits. Is this necessarily a bad thing?
The question is up for debate; yet within this paper, I claim that it is one of the beauties of living in this country. I am by no means saying that the exploitation of laborers is right (that would be a Trump thing to say). What I am trying to claim is that if a capitalist wants to sell a laborer’s commodity at a greater sum than the sum of its input cost, then the capitalist should be able to freely do so without being labeled as a degenerate” for attending to his desires before those of society. Man looks out for himself, not for others. It is in man’s nature to look out for the individual.
Yes, I just made a derogatory statement, which is precisely what society deems unacceptable. Unfortunately, we live in a world filled with hypocrisy. Capitalists do what most individuals would do if they had the power or resources to do so. For instance, a man would sell a commodity that a laborer produces at a higher price than the sum of its input cost. Why? To gain higher profits. According to Marx’s view in chapter 5, Man is not what he ought to be and he ought to be that which he could be.” Non-alienated labor can only exist when all of the alienating factors discussed herein are absent.
When private property (capital) and social class are dissolved, a system is created in which man lives and works for his species. This allows him to achieve his human potential, giving rise to a classless, state-less system called communism (EPM). Communism supports non-alienated labor by allowing activities that respect the agency of man as a consciously acting species-being. In this way, the objectification of his labor is not foreign to him or his species but empowers him instead.
