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Karl Marx Alienation Analysis

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The founding fathers of sociology, Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim, have played a profound role in influencing the development of sociology. This essay takes a critique stand on the similarities and differences in Marx’s concept of alienation and Durkheim’s theory of anomie. Karl Marx’s works which are still popular to this day, attributes to the adaptability of his concepts in today’s society. For example, Marx’s theory of “alienation” has grown popular in not only political and existentialist philosophy, but also modern literature, psychology, sociology, and psycho analysis. In ‘Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts’ (1844), Marx considers labor as a conscious act, as opposed to just a physical act. Marx identidied four components of alienation: …show more content…

Marx saw capitalism as a tool to remove workers’ rights to exercise control over the produce and value of his labour, ‘robbing’ them of the ability to neither receive the full value of the end product nor consume it directly. Capitalism, rather than a social relationship between people where they are involved in a common goal and effort for survival or betterment, reduces labour to a commercial commodity that is traded on the market. Marx’s concept of alienation is founded upon the belief that man is ‘naturally’ good, but has been corrupted by …show more content…

Alienation, an intrinsic economic fact linked to capitalism differs from Durkheim’s theory states that external constraints upon individuals and classes alike, can cause, instead of distribution and division of labour, a defection against the upper class. Although both Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim believed that human qualities and needs are in large part, the product of social development. However, with the development of advanced economies, technologies, and world markets, social thresholds such as religion are being

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