Topic > Alienation in Karl Marx - 1273

While some argue that an individual can find himself through work, Marx disagrees. He believes that the products created by the worker “…do not belong to his essence”. (88) This means that the products the worker produces in a capitalist economy are not for him, but rather for others in the economy. Therefore, Marc argues that labor “does not confirm itself in its work, it denies itself, it feels unhappy instead of happy…”(88) As I have already said, Marx believes that the worker in capitalism is forced to create products because this is what capitalism values, produces. Marx believes that there is no satisfaction or validation of the human being because the product of his labor leads to nothing for himself. Rather, the worker's work is not for enjoyment, but "only a means of satisfying needs external to himself." Here Marx shows that the worker is forced to go to work, not for enjoyment, but because the capitalist system has only allowed the worker to survive by working and then paying for the goods he needs to survive. Therefore, the worker loses his identity because he works more than he sleeps or has free time. Marx believes that this coherent work not only alienates the worker from himself, but alienates the worker from his human functions and relegates the worker to a social condition.