Karl Marx (1818-1883)

On Alienation and Objectification

          Marx theorizes that it is in the act of production, through human labor, that we make ourselves. However, our capitalist system today also allows for our alienation and objectification. We become separated from that which we produce (alienation), and in that separation humans are reduced to objects of labor rather than active subjects (objectification). Marx details this in a four step process: (1.) we are alienated from the things we produce, (2.) we are alienated from the work task, labor, itself, (3.) we become alienated from others (our social relationships suffer), and (4.) we become alienated from our "species needs." When we are alienated from that which makes us, namely our labor and ability to produce, we are no longer equipped to "be" and are transformed into mere objects, imprisoned by our own products.

          Marx applies this theory of alienation to religion and the state. As a people, we have produced God and yet we submit ourselves to Him as humans. We have endowed Him with value and specific attributes, but we must look back to God to receive and validate our own value. We have thus moved from the active agent (subject) in producing, to the passive object. The rights, values, and ability of the state to give freedom and equality to its peoples, naturally emerges from the way we organize ourselves in class, power, and social relations. In other words Marx argues that, like God, the state cannot give rights to the people that aren't first produced from our own social relationships. Once again, our products and actions have been alienated from their original sources and we are forced to submit ourselves to our own creations. While religion serves to relieve discontent or allow the laborer to forget his/her perpetual alienation (hence why Marx calls religion the opium of the people), it serves the contradictory purpose of aiding in the persistence of alienation.  Marx saw religion as continuing the status quo because it was used as a tool by the oppressors to make people feel uplifted.  Since religion can only provide temporary and illusory relief, Marx believes the abolition of religion was necessary for people to achieve true happiness. 

Alienation also permeates the state.  Under the system of private ownership, society is divided into two classes, the property owners (bourgeoisie) and the property-less (proletariat).  The bourgeoisie is the ruling class and it rules based on its own class interests, not the interests of the wage laborers.  In order to reproduce the capitalist system, the bourgeoisie rejects the need for the state to serve the collective needs of all classes and secures their domination by enforcing only their class’s interests.  Thus, the state acts as an oppressive force which alienates wage laborers from the ability to make decisions that could affect their lives.