Religion and alienation - Marx (1844)

Alienation

• Alienation = separation from creation

  • Dehumanising

Relgion and alienation

• Religion = product of alienation

  • Exploited people turn to religion as a form of consolation (‘opiate of the masses’)

‘Opiate of the masses’

• Opium = dulls the pain [of exploitation]

• Religion/opium:

  • Masks underlying problems

  • Provides a distorted view of the world

    • Doesn’t solve earthly miseries

      • Offers an afterlife to create illusory happiness

Religion and suffering

• Arises from suffering

• Consols suffering

• Does nothing for the cause of suffering

CRITICISM of alienation - Althusser (1971)

• Alienation is unscientific — a romanticised view of human beings having a ‘true self’

  • Inadequate basis for a theory

CRITICISM of alienation - M/C

• M/C are still religious but don’t need an opiate to dull their pain as they have none