Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 87 views

    Human Potential and Alientation

    Uploaded by

    hannah hipe
    The document discusses Marx's view of human potential and alienation. For Marx, human potential is related to labor and species being, and is modified by social and historical factors. When labor becomes merely a means to earn wages under capitalism rather than an expression of human capabilities, it leads to alienation from productive activities, products, fellow workers, and human potential itself. This alienation can only be resolved through real social change rather than just in thought.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Human Potential and Alientation

    Uploaded by

    hannah hipe
    87 views10 pages
    The document discusses Marx's view of human potential and alienation. For Marx, human potential is related to labor and species being, and is modified by social and historical factors. When labor becomes merely a means to earn wages under capitalism rather than an expression of human capabilities, it leads to alienation from productive activities, products, fellow workers, and human potential itself. This alienation can only be resolved through real social change rather than just in thought.

    Original Description:

    A copy of my report on Karl Marx' discussion on human potential and alienation.

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The document discusses Marx's view of human potential and alienation. For Marx, human potential is related to labor and species being, and is modified by social and historical factors. When labor becomes merely a means to earn wages under capitalism rather than an expression of human capabilities, it leads to alienation from productive activities, products, fellow workers, and human potential itself. This alienation can only be resolved through real social change rather than just in thought.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    87 views10 pages

    Human Potential and Alientation

    Uploaded by

    hannah hipe
    The document discusses Marx's view of human potential and alienation. For Marx, human potential is related to labor and species being, and is modified by social and historical factors. When labor becomes merely a means to earn wages under capitalism rather than an expression of human capabilities, it leads to alienation from productive activities, products, fellow workers, and human potential itself. This alienation can only be resolved through real social change rather than just in thought.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 10

    WHY DO YOU WORK?

    Human Potential and


    Alienation
    Hipe, Hannah A.
    MS-DS 1
    Human Potential

     For Marx:
     a conception of human potential that does not take social and historical factors into
    account is wrong, but to take them into account is not the same as being without a
    conception of human nature
     there is a human potential in general, but what is more important is the way it is “modified in each
    historical epoch” (Marx, 1842/1977:609).
     He meant the potentials and powers that are uniquely human and that distinguish humans
    from other species.
    Labor

     For Marx, species being and human potential are intimately related to labor:
     Labour is, in the first place, a process in which both man and Nature participate, and in
    which man of his own accord starts, regulates, and controls the material reactions
    between himself and Nature . . . .By thus acting on the external world and changing it, he
    at the same time changes his own nature.
     the development of our truly human powers and potentials.
     By transforming material reality to fit our purpose, we also transform ourselves.
     Furthermore, labor is a social activity. Work involves others, directly in joint productions,
    or because others provide us with the necessary tools or raw materials for our
    work, or because they enjoy the fruits of our labor. Labor does not transform only
    the individual human; it also transforms society.
    Alienation

     We no longer see our labor as an expression of our purpose. There is no objectivation.


    Instead, we labor in accordance with the purpose of the capitalist who hires and pays us.
    Rather than being an end in itself—an expression of human capabilities— labor in
    capitalism is reduced to being a means to an end: earning money (Marx,1932/1964:173).
     Because our labor is not our own, it no longer transforms us. Instead we are alienated from
    our labor and therefore alienated from our true human nature.
     alienated from their productive activity
     not only from productive activities but also from the object of those
    activities—the product
     alienated from their fellow workers.
     are alienated from their own human potential.
    What Marx wanted to stress is that this
    contradiction cannot be resolved
    merely in thought. We are not any less alienated
    because we identify with our employer
    or with the things that our wages can purchase.
    Indeed, these things are a symptom
    of our alienation, which can be resolved only
    through real social change.
    References

     Ritzer, George
    2011 Sociological theory. 8th ed. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
     Marx, Karl
    1842/1977 “Communism and the Augsburger Allegemeine Zeitung. ” In D. McLellan
    (ed.), Karl Marx: Selected Writings. New York: Oxford University Press: 20.

    You might also like