Marxism- Alienation

How does Marx define alienation at its most general level?

separation of things that properly belong together

Which Marx text contains the detailed four-part account of workers' alienation?

Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844

What are Marx's four forms of worker alienation under capitalism?

product, activity, species-being, other humans

Which Marx quote can support an argument about alienation from the product of labour?

"the worker relates to the product of his labour as to an alien object"

What is fetishism in Marx's account of alienation?

human creations gain independent power over their creators

What does workers' labour reproduce besides individual commodities under capitalism?

the capitalist system that oppresses them

Why does Marx say workers can be oppressed by their own product?

their labour reproduces capital

Why are workers alienated from the activity of labour under capitalism?

work gives no fulfilment and feels forced

Which quote from the 1844 Manuscripts supports Marx's claim that alienation occurs within production itself?

"Alienation shows itself not only in the result, but also in the act of production"

What should productive labour provide according to Marx's account of non-alienated work?

self-realisation

What does productive labour become under capitalism instead of a vehicle for self-realisation?

a barrier to self-realisation

Which Marx quote describes the worker as denying himself through work?

"he does not confirm himself in his work, he denies himself"

Why does the worker feel labour does not belong to them under capitalism?

they work from economic compulsion rather than self-directed purpose

How does Marx contrast the worker's human and animal functions under alienated labour?

human functions feel animal while animal functions feel free

What distinctly human drive is frustrated by alienation from productive activity?

self-realisation through purposeful activity

What does species-being refer to in Marx's 1844 account?

distinctly human essence

What aspect of human nature is central to Marx's account of species-being?

conscious creative production

Which Marx quote directly connects alienation from other people to alienation from human essence?

"one man is alienated from another as each of them is alienated from the human essence"

Why can religion be described as a fetish in Feuerbach's account?

a human creation gains power over its creator

How does religion prevent self-realisation in Feuerbach's account?

humans worship externally projected features of their own species-being

How does Marx change Feuerbach's theory of religious alienation?

extends it to material production and human life

Which mature Marx text explicitly compares religious alienation with capitalist production?

Capital Volume One

Which Marx quote most directly shows the continuity between Feuerbach's religious alienation and Marx's capitalist alienation?

"As, in religion, man is governed by the products of his own brain, so in capitalist production, he is governed by the products of his own hand"

Why is the capitalist compelled to accumulate capital under capitalism?

to remain a capitalist

Which thinker distinguishes worker and capitalist experiences through the concept of reification?

Lukács

What is reification in Lukács's analysis?

social relations acquire the character of things

What special standpoint does Lukács attribute to the proletariat?

standpoint of totality

Why can the proletariat gain the standpoint of totality according to Lukács?

its position reveals the total relations of production historically

What example demonstrates that alienation existed before capitalism?

religious alienation

How were feudal workers alienated from some products of their labour?

lords appropriated part of their product

What distinguishes capitalist product alienation from feudal appropriation?

the worker's product becomes capital with independent power

How is feudal exploitation experienced differently from capitalist exploitation?

it is a personal direct relationship between serf and lord rather than a mediated relationship between the workers and capitalists through wages

Why is capitalist alienation more abstract than feudal exploitation?

workers appear to be dominated by capital rather than a personal lord

What becomes possible once Marx identifies alienated labour?

a positive concept of unalienated labour

How does alienation contribute to Marx's account of historical development?

its contradictions help drive society beyond capitalism

Why is alienation more than a moral criticism of capitalism in Marx's wider theory?

it contributes to dialectical historical progression

Which thinker stresses that Marx also praised capitalism's historical development despite alienation?

G A Cohen

Which Marx phrase does Cohen use to show capitalism's positive historical role?

"the great civilizing influence of capital"

How does Cohen describe alienation as a historical cost of capitalist development?

‘the cost of rescue from pre-capitalist envelopment in nature and society’

What conception of work does Marx reject when developing unalienated labour?

Christian concept of work as a necessary evil

What does Marx think causes the mistaken Christian view of work as a necessary evil?

it confuses productive activity with historically alienated forms

What positive possibilities does Marx attribute to productive activity?

self-realisation, enjoyment and purpose

Which economist does Marx criticise in the Grundrisse for treating labour as "a curse"?

Adam Smith

In which text does Marx criticise Adam Smith's conception of labour as "a curse"?

Grundrisse

What does Marx suggest humans may require in addition to rest?

‘a normal portion of work’

Which Marx text presents a detailed positive vision of producing "in a human manner"?

Notes on James Mill

What does Marx's Notes on James Mill suggest unalienated production would affirm?

the producer and fellow humans

How would productive activity itself feel under Marx's vision in Notes on James Mill?

an individual expression of life

What satisfaction would a producer gain from the consumer under Marx's unalienated labour?

recognition that the product satisfies the consumer's need

What practical problem arises if unalienated labour is interpreted as completely free labour?

insufficient goods might be produced

What feature of Marx's theory addresses the concern that free labour might produce too few goods?

technological advance

Which thinker defines self-realisation as the full and free actualisation and externalisation of individual powers?

Elster

How does Elster define the self-realisation involved in unalienated labour?

full and free actualisation and externalisation of individual abilities

What objection does Elster make to full self-realisation?

it is infeasible

Which thinker offers a stronger social interpretation of unalienated labour than Elster?

Kandiyali

What two individual values remain important in Kandiyali's interpretation of unalienated labour?

self-realisation and freedom

What social element does Kandiyali add to self-realisation in unalienated labour?

desire to satisfy others' needs

What reciprocal response is important in Kandiyali's account of unalienated labour?

gratitude towards those satisfying our needs

How does Kandiyali answer the objection that freely chosen labour would produce insufficient goods?

concern for others motivates sufficient production

Which thinkers contribute to the debate over what unalienated labour consists of?

Marx, Elster and Kandiyali

What human characteristic does Marx's architect-and-bee example illustrate?

conscious purposeful production

Which text contains Marx's comparison between the worst architect and the best bee?

Capital Volume One

Why does the architect build differently from the bee according to Marx?

the architect constructs the product mentally first

What apparent problem does Marx's 6th Thesis on Feuerbach create for the 1844 theory of alienation?

it appears to reject a fixed human essence

What does Marx say human essence is in the 6th Thesis on Feuerbach?

the ensemble of social relations

What type of humanism appears to be rejected by the 6th Thesis on Feuerbach?

strong essentialist humanism

What does strong essentialist humanism claim about human nature?

humans have a fixed transtemporal essence

Why does a wholly socially determined human essence create a problem for Marx's critique of alienation?

it cannot provide an independent standard for judging social relations

Which thinker uses the tension between the 1844 Manuscripts and 6th Thesis to argue for an epistemological break?

Althusser

What does Althusser's epistemological-break thesis claim happened between 1844 and 1845?

Marx abandoned Hegelian humanism for scientific Marxism

Why does Althusser regard an abstract fixed human nature as unscientific?

history cannot be scientifically grounded in an abstract essence

What political approach can follow from Althusser's conception of Marxism as science?

Marxist science is taught to the proletariat from above

Which political tradition does Althusser's scientific interpretation align with?

Marxism-Leninism

When were Marx's Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 first published?

1932

What historical development helped stimulate Marxist Humanism after the publication of Marx's early writings?

rise of Stalinism

Why did Marxist Humanists turn towards Marx's early writings?

to find an alternative to Marxism-Leninism

Which two themes do Marxist Humanists see continuing through Marx's work?

Hegelian dialectics and alienation

What 1873 evidence challenges Althusser's claim that mature Marx abandoned Hegel?

Marx explicitly praises Hegel in Capital's Afterword

What 1867 evidence challenges the claim that mature Marx abandoned human nature?

the architect-and-bee passage in Capital

What mature Marxist concept challenges the claim that Marx abandoned alienation?

commodity fetishism

According to the humanist interpretation, what does the 6th Thesis clarify rather than reject?

species-being

What does Marx's 1844 claim that self-estrangement manifests through practical relations support?

human essence can be social and still alienated

Which thinker wrote Marx and Human Nature: Refutation of a Legend?

Norman Geras

What position does Norman Geras defend in Marx and Human Nature: Refutation of a Legend?

Marx does not deny human nature

Which Marx passage does Geras reinterpret against anti-humanist Marxists?

6th Thesis on Feuerbach

How do anti-humanists interpret Marx's claim that human essence is the ensemble of social relations?

human nature is entirely determined by social relations

How does Geras reinterpret Marx's claim that human essence is the ensemble of social relations?

human nature is conditioned and revealed by social relations, not wholly determined by them

What two components of human nature can coexist in Geras's interpretation?

fixed and historically variable characteristics

What does Geras think Marx may be objecting to in Feuerbach's account of human essence?

treating essence only as an abstract individual generality

Why is the word "only" important to Geras's interpretation of Marx's criticism of Feuerbach?

Marx may reject merely fixed essence rather than fixed essence itself

How does Geras interpret Marx's use of "abstraction" in the 6th Thesis?

as separating individuals from their social totality

What does Geras conclude about a transtemporal human nature in Marx?

it can exist

Why must social relations still be examined if humans possess fixed characteristics according to Geras?

historically variable aspects of human nature appear through social context

Which thinkers contribute to the debate over whether Marx retains a human nature?

Althusser, Marxist Humanists and Norman Geras

What does Marx mean when he says man's physical and spiritual life is linked to nature?

nature is linked to itself through humans

What two things does estranged labour initially estrange from humans in Marx's 1844 account?

nature and their own life activity