Marx’s Theory of Alienation and Ideology
Marx: Alienation and Capitalism
Marx: The Alienation and Capitalism. Ideology.
For Marx, man is essentially a social and historical being whose main activity is work.
Defining Alienation
Marx defines alienation as the phenomenon of suppressing the individual’s personality, controlling, and reversing their free will, with the aim of making a person dependent. In relation to capitalism, alienation is established as an imbalance in the production process that originates in the division of labor and private property. This is seen not only in the economic exploitation of workers but also has a social dimension: the economic condition of alienation coincides with the division of society into classes. The causes are the economic conditions of society that focus on private ownership of the means of production, creating the exploiting and the exploited classes.
Alienation in Bourgeois Capitalism
Although alienation is a constant in human history, it reaches its highest share in the recrudescence of bourgeois capitalism, particularly during the Industrial Revolution of the early nineteenth century. Marx relates alienation to four aspects of human anthropology: the work product, the activity performed by the worker, the relationship between humans, and the relationship with nature.
Alienation from the Product of Labor
Alienation from the product of labor is based on the bourgeois capitalist system, which is characterized by capitalist ownership of the means of production (factories, machines) and the labor force of workers. The work product belongs to the capitalist, and the proletariat no longer has ownership or control over it.
Alienation in the Activity of Labor
In terms of the activity of labor, the worker does not consider the work product, but the activity that human beings develop. The incorporation of machines and specialization leads the worker to be involved in only one part of the production process, repeatedly performing the same activity. This causes the performance of the work itself to become alienating, as the proletariat seeks satisfaction outside of work, in “animal activities” (eating, playing, etc.).
Alienation in Human Relationships
Alienation in the relationship between human beings is based on the division of human beings into antagonistic social classes: the exploited and the exploiters. This class division expresses alienation because neither class, not even the bourgeoisie, embodies the complete essence of man. The proletariat is the class of those who work but do not benefit, and the bourgeoisie is those that benefit but do not produce. Marx proposed that the reconciliation of man to himself would come about through revolution to abolish the division of social classes.
Alienation from Nature
Finally, alienation in the relationship between man and nature is based on the idea that the universal human being is a producer. Man realizes his own being in the transformation of nature; however, the masses of workers who have migrated from the countryside to the city to work in factories also lose their natural habitat.
Marx’s Concept of Ideology
Marx also defines the concept of ideology as a set of beliefs and doctrines—religious, philosophical, ethical, legal, and political—that shape the culture of a society in every age. According to Marx, ideological forms reflect the material conditions of human existence, imposed by:
- Religion, which Marx called “the opium of the people,” numbing the consciousness of the proletariat’s exploitation.
- Philosophy, which, according to Marx, engages in theoretical work but does not transform reality.
- Bourgeois morality, which justifies and appeases the conscience of the capitalists.
- Law and state theory, which aim at conserving the status of the ruling class.
Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud: The Philosophy of Suspicion
From this point of view, Marx, along with Nietzsche and Freud, anticipates and is one of the initiators of the so-called philosophy of suspicion. This philosophy systematically presumes hidden intentions in the world of rational explanation. These authors suspect and attempt to expose such hidden agendas, thus making reason itself suspect.