“Does this darkness has a name? This cruelty,
this hatred. How did it find us? Did it steal into our lives or did we seek it
out and embrace it? What happened to us, that we now send our children into the
world like we send young men to war? Hoping for their safe return, but knowing
that some will be lost along the way. When did we lose our way? Consumed by the
shadows, swallowed whole by the
darkness.
Does this darkness have a name?
Is it your name?”
Lucas Scott.
Alienation
is a concept which is described in philosophy in different ages by philosophers who
belong to different schools. Alienation is
primarily two-fold: an alienation from the self and alienation from the
world. Alienation from others and from the world is ultimately an alienation
from the self as well.
Before going to the philosophical explanation
I’d like to undertake a first brief
exploration of the concept by means of an example:
In ordinary
language we would say that a child, who is separated from his mother for a
longtime, becomes ‘alienated’ from her. Here the child is the subject of
alienation, while the mother stands for the other part of the ‘belonging
together’, out of which the little kid is alienated. Furthermore, the example
shows that alienation is not a merely neutral phenomenon; it often exceeds the
level of objective description: the ‘belonging together’of mother and child is
implicitly viewed as a preferable condition in comparison with the
In philosophical context, Alienation can
be mainly seen in two schools of thoughts. It can be seen in,
·
Existentialism and
·
Marxism.
According
to Marxism, “Alienation (Entfremdung) is the systemic result
of living in a socially stratified society, because being a mechanistic part of a social class alienates a person
from his and her humanity.”
(Wikipedia)
What had been described on Marxism alienation is that the
worker invariably loses the ability to determine his or her life and destiny,
when deprived of the right to think of himself as the director of his actions;
to determine the character of said actions; to define his relationship with
other people; and to own the things and use the value of the goods and
services, produced with his labor.
Although the worker is an autonomous, self-realized human
being, as an economic entity, he or she is directed to goals and diverted to
activities that are dictated by the bourgeoisie, who own the means of production, in order to extract from the worker the maximal amount of surplus
value, in the course of business competition
among industrialists.
According to existentialism, alienation is more on having
faith on god. Kierkegaard who was a known theist, is the main existentialist
who expressed opinions on alienation in related to existentialism.
Kierkegaard expressly means that human beings are alienated
from God because they are living too much in the world. Individuals need to gain their souls from the world because it actually belongs to God.
Kierkegaard has no interest in external battles as Karl
Marx does. His concern is about the inner fight for faith.
Therefore, we can understand these two as two different
arguments on alienation. We can see the attempts of some, to amalgamate these
two ideas as one .
Yet according to Sean Sayers, Professor of Philosophy, University of Kent,
“Some writers try to
merge these two strands of thought
together (Pappenheim 1959;
Schacht 1971), but that is unsatisfactory. It is tempting simply to distinguish
two quite separate and distinct notions of alienation, a Marxist
and an existentialist one; but that
too is problematic.
Even within these two traditions, both strands are present.
Thus
it would be wrong to suggest that Marx uses the term `alienation' exclusively
to describe a social or economic condition. On contrary, as Plamenatz argues,
two `kinds of alienation' can be distinguished in Marx's work, `social' and
`spiritual' (Plamenatz 1975, 141ff). Conversely, it is equally mistaken to
think that philosophers
in the existentialist tradition
are concerned solely with psychological
or spiritual matters. A critique of the alienating conditions of modern society
is a prominent feature of much existentialist thought. In short, both aspects
are a part of both traditions. To understand how they are related and how
they differ we need to go back to Hegel.”(Professor Sean Sayers
,Hegelian Themes in Modern Social Thought)
Marxism: Alienation
“Let us suppose that we had carried out production as
human beings. Each of us would have, in two ways, affirmed himself, and the
other person.
(1) In my production I would have objectified my individuality, its specific character, and, therefore, enjoyed not
only an individual manifestation of my life during the activity, but also, when
looking at the object, I would have the individual pleasure of knowing my
personality to be objective, visible to the senses, and, hence, a power beyond
all doubt.
(2) In your
enjoyment, or use, of my product I would have the direct enjoyment both of
being conscious of having satisfied a human need by my work, that is, of having
objectified man’s essential nature, and of having thus created an object
corresponding to the need of another man’s essential nature. . . . Our products
would be so many mirrors in which we saw reflected our essential nature.”
— Comment
on James Mill
Karl Marx
In
privately owned system of industrial production in which each
worker is an instrument, and this worker does not get the real benefits of the production , he is not
entitled with profit and same time become oppressed by the exploitation. Marx
furthermore explains this in four sections.
i.
Alienation of the worker from the work — from the product of
his labor
ii.
Alienation of the worker from working — from the act of
producing
iii.
Alienation of the worker
from himself, as a producer
iv.
Alienation of the worker from other workers
According to Marx, In a
capitalist society, the worker’s alienation from his and her humanity occurs
because the worker can only express labor — a fundamental social aspect of
personal individuality.
Existentialism: Alienation
“In
the New Testament sense, to be a Christian is, in an upward sense, as different
from being a man as, in a downward sense, to be a man is different from being a
beast.
A
Christian in the sense of the New Testament, although he stands suffering in
the midst of life’s reality, has yet become completely a stranger to this life;
in the words of the Scripture and also of the Collects (which still are read-O
bloody satire!-by the sort of priests we now have, and in the ears of the sort
of Christians that now live) he is a stranger and a pilgrim-just think, for
example of the lateBishop Mynster intoning,
“We
are strangers and pilgrims in this world”! A Christian in the New Testament
sense is literally a stranger and a pilgrim, he feels himself a stranger, and
everyone involuntarily feels that this man is a stranger to him.”
Attack Upon Christianity,
The Instant, No.7
Soren Kierkegaard
Each
line of the above text expresses the firm belief Kierkegaard has on god as
theists. Through Alienation he discusses the moral break down of people and how
firm belief and faith on god could help it.
He
used alienation as a conceptual tool to describe the purpose of existence of
human beings on earth, he came up with ‘ god’ as a solution for alienation. In
contrary, came up with alienation as the result that would one come up with if
he or she wouldn't have enough faith on life or god.
As Professor
Sean Sayers writes in his Hegelian Themes in Modern Social Thought article , For Kierkegaard, “socialization must not
be confused with salvation', He
angrily repudiates what he takes to be both
the common and the Hegelian
view, that being a Christian involves
nothing more than carrying out `my station and its duties'.”
Technology and Alienation
The more
transfer the world and ourselves, the more the world becomes strange for us and
the more we experience ourselves as aliens in that world. In spite of an ever
fast er technological progress – we now witness already the third industrial
revolution in a few centuries time – the promised paradise has still not yet arrived. On the contrary, a lot of people experience a
feeling of uneasiness about our technological being-in-the-world. It seems as if we have lost something
important, something that has to keep the progress of technology balanced.
So we can ask
ourselves: what is this phenomenon of modern technology? Traditionally people
hold that technology is the human way of acting on brute and endangering
nature to secure a safe and comfortable existence. People create instruments and techniques which
enable them to improve their standard of living. In technology studies this
is known as the neutral and instrumentalist view on technology. But reality seems to refute this view on
technology, since not all achievements of modern technology turn out to be
beneficial for humanity. The destructive effects of this technology seem to
increase in proportion to its productive forces. So technology possesses at
least a partial dynamic of its own. With other words: man is not fully in
command of the development of technology.
This is where
Alienation comes to play it’s fancy role. People become alienated to their true
delf with the over consumerism of the modern day technology This is a slow
process, with the over consumerism people become slaves to the devices rather
than they using those devices for their own use. And through this the whole
society becomes alienate to each other while living in their small fancy
virtual circles.
Below pictures
can explain it better than how words could explain it.
Consumerism
and Alienation
Consumerism is one aspect I always believed as a factor
which could make people loose themselves even before getting to know the term
‘alienation’ ( got to know the term in studying the course unit )Consumerism is becoming the
hallmark of most world economies. In the West, it was a common phenomenon, but
now even developing countries in the world are resorting to it.
Consumerism refers to
the consumption of goods at a higher rate. The economy is judged by
the production and selling of goods. The gross national product is
the sum total of goods and services produced for a specific period at a
specific time. The more goods produced and consumed by society the higher the
growth rate of the economy. The prosperity of a nation is judged by the per
capita income of individuals residing in it. The economy is considered to be”
doing well” if the purchasing power of the people is high.
In consumer society,
people replace their goods with newer ones. They purchase goods, use them and
throw them away. New goods when they become old are replaced by newer ones. The
question of repair does not arise People have money to purchase goods in
plenty. In case, they do not do so as it leads to recession and depression and
also results in unemployment.
www.paggu.com states the below
aspects as the negativity of consumerism,
i.
Craving
for goods is high. The wants and desires of the people increase. The better
their income, the better their purchasing power. But in case, they are not able
to do so, then they feel dissatisfied.
ii.
One
is in a rat race to earn more and is forced to cope up with stress and
other work related tensions.
iii.
Material
wealth is the deciding factor about whether a society is highly developed or
not. Spiritual values are underplayed. This may not be suitable to a person
from the East, who generally is appreciative of spiritual values.
iv.
Over-dependence
on labor saving devices.
v.
A
car for each individual would mean gradual erosion of public transport.
vi.
Crime
rate also increases as wants to possess expensive gadgets increase.
vii.
Thefts
become common and daylight robberies take place.
viii.
Personal
relationships also get affected as people are busy trying to earn more to
maintain their standard of living.
ix.
Cheaper
goods are imported from other goods affecting the growth of locally based
manufacturing industries.
x.
Consumerism
has also resulted in ecological imbalances. The natural habitat is being
destroyed to create more goods and build more buildings affecting the weather.
Global warming will eventually result in health problems. Industrial pollution
is affecting people in many ways.
xi.
People
lifestyles have also changed in the sense they are more lavish, full of
material comforts rather than focusing on simplicity. The Eastern
spiritualism and philosophy has always laid emphasis on simplicity. Gandhian
principles and values favor a non-materialistic approach to life. Even well
known sages such as JidduKrishnamurthi have also eulogized simplicity in one’s
lifestyles and thinking.
xii.
Consumerism
is also depleting the natural resources of the respective country.
xiii.
Psychological
health also can get affected if one’s desires are not meant such as depression.
Jealousy and envy can lead to crime
We can see a clear
link between consumerism and alienation, which make people more and more
dehumanize. Sri lanka is highly
progressing towards materialism, although this goes against its ancient
philosophical approach towards materialism, which favors a simple,
non-materialistic life.
Marxism is not considered as a valid concept in the current
economical context, yet we can see the exploitation and the dissatisfaction of
the laborer.
Writer personally has her first hand experiences on this
after working for a well-recognized international bank for one and half
years. Even though the exploitation
process does not has it’s mean face to be seen in the current society with the
provided laborer securing regulation, it still has that mean face covered with
sweet masks like 'bureaucracy'. The dissatisfaction of the work is bitter, yet since the
economy highly push society, specially youngsters, towards consumerist trends
they often forget about that dissatisfaction. People often ware the sadistic
face goes to work, earn money and try to be happy with money they made with
zero satisfaction.
This can be considers as the new face of alienation.
“Bureaucratic structures can discourage
creativity and innovation throughout the organization. No matter how ingenious
a business owner is, it is virtually impossible for a single individual to
generate the range of strategic ideas possible in a large, interdisciplinary
group. Front-line employees may receive less satisfaction from their jobs in a
rigidly bureaucratic organization, increasing employee turnover rates.
Organizations bound by rigid controls can also find themselves less able to
adapt to changing conditions in the marketplace, industry or legal environment.”
i.
Powerlessness
ii.
Meaninglessness
iii.
Normlessness
iv.
Political alienation
v.
Social isolation
vi.
Relationships
vii.
Self-estrangement
viii.
Mental
disturbance
Above complexities can
be seen as the visible impact alienation
could make on the society.
According
to http://www.reportingonhealth.org
“ An AARP survey
in 2010 found just over a third of those age 45 and up say they’ve felt lonely
for a long time. The most recent UCLA Loneliness Scale found the same thing.
Roughly a third of Americans don’t feel close to others — a much higher
number than I think most people would have predicted.
Studies have linked loneliness and social isolation to an array of potentially
devastating health challenges, including Alzheimer’s and other neurologically
degenerative conditions, diabetes, overweight and obesity, high blood pressure
and heart disease. Judith Shulevitz, the science editor at The New
Republic, recently noted that tumors may even metastasize faster in lonely
people.”
Conclusion
After
considering all the above facts, we can conclude that alienation has become a
part of our day to day life with different faces, and if we do not take a step
forward identifying this dynamic dehumanizing concept, we will all create a
wealthy modern so called ‘ posh’ society
full of mentally handicapped people.
vii
