To begin with, Marx’s theory of alienation is a theory that speculates about what happens to the laborer under the production process of industrial capitalism. In other words, he concludes that the laborers produce objects for exchange-value and become alienated from the product because they are not products that they consume themselves. They are products that are sold by the bourgeoisie and consumed by others, which also lead them to alienate themselves from the production process. Laborers thus lose their human qualities because they work for numerous hours, perform repetitive duties, and are just seen as a commodity instead of an individual. Last but not least, laborers alienate themselves from others because others start to become a competition (Marx, 75-77). That is, they put such an emphasis on their work that they do not want someone else to outdo them or possibly cause them to be fired. Hence, they work and work until they fulfill the needs of the bourgeoisie without noticing that they’ve alienated themselves from their job and themselves.
With that said, alienation is quite evident in the labor process of Apple, in its iFactory under Foxconn in Taiwan. In this factory, workers are expected to meet a high demand of iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Mac computers. There are one hundred forty-one steps in creating any gadget and everything is made by hand. As an example, three hundred thousand iPads can be made in a single day and ten thousand Apple logos can be carved in an hour. For some, it may not sound like a lot, but it should be considered a lot when they have twelve-hour shifts a day and only earn $1.78 an hour. Most of the people that work within this company are also forced to leave their families to live in Foxconn because it is one way in which they can support their families and the only way. There are no other opportunities in Taiwan that can offer them a better salary.
Now, if there are more than 55 million homes with at least one Apple product (USA Today, Jodi Gralnick), why aren’t these Apple employees being paid more? I mean, it is clear that these Apple products are selling and that almost everyone has one but it is also clear that with that salary, the laborer making the product can’t even afford one at the rate of $1.78 an hour. This meaning that the laborer is alienating itself from the product and the process because it is a product that they do not benefit from. The owners of production is simply taking advantage of their workers but not giving them real compensation for what their labor is worth or for what the product is worth. In the short clip, one of the laborers also says that all she thinks of is rest. She doesn’t think about the hours that she’s put in or specifically about all the applications that the Apple products will hold, she only thinks of rest. This confirming the idea that the laborer has no connection to the process of production and proving that the bourgeoisie are only interested in producing objects for exchange-value and not their well being.
In relation to that, there is the alienation from human contact that the proletarian experiences. So, not only are people not getting enough rest, but they are also losing touch of who they are because of what’s expected of them. One example that is evident in this special edition is what was known as “suicidal nets”. That is, people working for this company have committed suicide or have tried because they cannot handle the environment that they’re in. It is why, as a solution, the owners of the company agreed on placing “nets” around the building in hopes that it would prevent people from committing suicide. And, it is quite surprising that the owners of the company did not see a higher wage or better living conditions as a solution. However, it is more surprising that people have to go to the extent of committing suicide because they get tired of working as much as they do or because they don’t get an opportunity to socialize while they work – which, is what makes a human, socialization.
In conclusion, the laborers under the Apple Company experience alienation from the product, its process, and themselves. And, it is upsetting as a whole because as Karl Marx would agree, it is caused by the bourgeoisie for the simple reason of gaining wealth and power through the objects that they produce.