Karl Marx is famous of his theories on Communism, but looking at his work, his ideas and theories about alienation have valid points. According to Marx, there are four types of alienation: process of work, product of work, alienation from others and alienation of species being. Alienation from the process of work occurs when a worker is not seen as person, but rather as another notch in a belt that can simply be replaced. Product of work is when a person does not receive credit for the work/idea that they created. Alienation for others comes in the form of competition and alienation for a person’s species being, is alienation for being free to produce for ones’ self. Taking into account these various forms of alienation, the proletariat now becomes exploited. This is unfortunate; however, this usually is what the worker wants because he in the end “needs” a wages.
Take the multi-million dollar business, McDonalds. Each year McDonalds hires thousands of people to work for the company, typically at minimum wage. The wage that the workers are receiving is not remotely close to the actual work that is put into running the company. This is exploitation. People who work for McDonalds and other million dollar fast food industries are in constant alienation. The worker alienates himself from the process when he merely goes through the motions of work and is unattached. The proletariats are alienated from the product of work because they are not the people receiving credit for the products being made. Customers aren’t coming out of McDonalds saying, “Steve made a great cup of coffee today” or “Ashley fried the fries to perfection.” No, all the credit goes toward the bourgeois. The workers are alienated from each other through competition, such as employee of the moth awards and bonuses. This causes the workers to stay divided so that they can never come together to say ask for better wages or benefits. The proletariats are mainly alienated from themselves because of the species being. In order to make $15,000, a crew member would have to work eight hours a day, five days a week, for forty weeks, with the minimum wage of about $8.95per hour. This robs the worker because he then has no time to pursue his hopes and dreams because he is constantly tired and drained from working a job that he probably hates.
But what if the way society saw money and value was to change. Marx describes anything that can be bought or sold (with use value) as a commodity. What if people only traded things and used exchange value instead of money? Then society would look differently. That person working at McDonalds might be more prone to come into work if instead of receiving a mere $8.95 per hour, the time spent working could be equivalent to housing cost and the worker would not have to worry about paying rent because he would be working to stay in an apartment possibly that the company owns. This would be a form of Communism. There would be no class, no poverty, and everyone would have to literally exchange for the goods and services needed.
Take the multi-million dollar business, McDonalds. Each year McDonalds hires thousands of people to work for the company, typically at minimum wage. The wage that the workers are receiving is not remotely close to the actual work that is put into running the company. This is exploitation. People who work for McDonalds and other million dollar fast food industries are in constant alienation. The worker alienates himself from the process when he merely goes through the motions of work and is unattached. The proletariats are alienated from the product of work because they are not the people receiving credit for the products being made. Customers aren’t coming out of McDonalds saying, “Steve made a great cup of coffee today” or “Ashley fried the fries to perfection.” No, all the credit goes toward the bourgeois. The workers are alienated from each other through competition, such as employee of the moth awards and bonuses. This causes the workers to stay divided so that they can never come together to say ask for better wages or benefits. The proletariats are mainly alienated from themselves because of the species being. In order to make $15,000, a crew member would have to work eight hours a day, five days a week, for forty weeks, with the minimum wage of about $8.95per hour. This robs the worker because he then has no time to pursue his hopes and dreams because he is constantly tired and drained from working a job that he probably hates.
But what if the way society saw money and value was to change. Marx describes anything that can be bought or sold (with use value) as a commodity. What if people only traded things and used exchange value instead of money? Then society would look differently. That person working at McDonalds might be more prone to come into work if instead of receiving a mere $8.95 per hour, the time spent working could be equivalent to housing cost and the worker would not have to worry about paying rent because he would be working to stay in an apartment possibly that the company owns. This would be a form of Communism. There would be no class, no poverty, and everyone would have to literally exchange for the goods and services needed.