Rosemarie Dominguez
SOC 385
Marx Blog Redo
Aliens Producing Estrangement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfw0KapQ3qw [1]
Socialist Karl Marx is one of the founding fathers of Sociology and the theorist of alienation. Marx’s theory of alienation is the argument that within modern industrial production under capitalist conditions, workers will inescapably lose control of their lives by losing control over their work, and becoming autonomous under capitalist conditions. Capitalists create dehumanizing conditions in producing profit and loss because not only are there large quantities of stuff by the automated mechanical process of individuals, but in that automated mechanical process, workers become estranged from themselves, and from the products as well. It is the conditions of their work and not necessarily having a say in the work they produce, commodities being produced are no longer their own creation, but rather becomes in opposition to the workers and a separate object. Alienation from the workers does now allow humanity to intervene in creating the object they produce or change the conditions in their work environment.
Charlie Chaplin was an English comic actor who filmed silent black and white films during the 1920s. In one film, Modern Times- The Factory Scene (1936) represents how the conditions of the factory work result to the workers being alienated from the co-workers, and no longer working as a team. The conditions of their work become routine and controlled practices that turns into competition against each other, where workers are working harder, faster and more productively. In the clip Chaplin is screwing cogs, in the means of producing he is unable to see the final product. He is unable to have any say in and not able to take a break form the working conditions. Even during lunchtime he was being reduced to a feeding machine in order to maximize means of production. However, prior his lunch break because his work became a routine, he could not help but continue to screw things, even with out his tools. He eventually goes crazy in screwing all cogs, including trying to screw a woman’s dress, which had cog like buttons. One other example of alienation that I thought of was of this man that I had a conversation with, explaining how he worked work two shifts from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. for about 27 years and when his daughter was getting married, it was right there in the church where he realized he did not know his own daughter. This sadden me, due to the fact that alienation and dehumanized this man from his labor but also from means of life (his family).
The working class/ proletariats are the ones who are being controlled by the people of power/ bourgeoisie, who controls the production of goods produced by the labor workers. In Modern Times, the proletariats were not fighting back against the working conditions given by the bourgeois, but fighting against themselves, therefore their labour power became a commodity. Their labour (Charlie’s and the gentleman I spoke with) can be sold and bought and even traded, becoming just objects being operated by one mass machine. In conclusion, according to Marx, capitalism alienates workers from each other, no longer having relationships with each other. Both examples with Charlie Chaplin and the man I spoke with exemplify how individuals lose themselves and in some cases lose their families as well, in systematic control practices.
[1] Youtube video
SOC 385
Marx Blog Redo
Aliens Producing Estrangement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfw0KapQ3qw [1]
Socialist Karl Marx is one of the founding fathers of Sociology and the theorist of alienation. Marx’s theory of alienation is the argument that within modern industrial production under capitalist conditions, workers will inescapably lose control of their lives by losing control over their work, and becoming autonomous under capitalist conditions. Capitalists create dehumanizing conditions in producing profit and loss because not only are there large quantities of stuff by the automated mechanical process of individuals, but in that automated mechanical process, workers become estranged from themselves, and from the products as well. It is the conditions of their work and not necessarily having a say in the work they produce, commodities being produced are no longer their own creation, but rather becomes in opposition to the workers and a separate object. Alienation from the workers does now allow humanity to intervene in creating the object they produce or change the conditions in their work environment.
Charlie Chaplin was an English comic actor who filmed silent black and white films during the 1920s. In one film, Modern Times- The Factory Scene (1936) represents how the conditions of the factory work result to the workers being alienated from the co-workers, and no longer working as a team. The conditions of their work become routine and controlled practices that turns into competition against each other, where workers are working harder, faster and more productively. In the clip Chaplin is screwing cogs, in the means of producing he is unable to see the final product. He is unable to have any say in and not able to take a break form the working conditions. Even during lunchtime he was being reduced to a feeding machine in order to maximize means of production. However, prior his lunch break because his work became a routine, he could not help but continue to screw things, even with out his tools. He eventually goes crazy in screwing all cogs, including trying to screw a woman’s dress, which had cog like buttons. One other example of alienation that I thought of was of this man that I had a conversation with, explaining how he worked work two shifts from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. for about 27 years and when his daughter was getting married, it was right there in the church where he realized he did not know his own daughter. This sadden me, due to the fact that alienation and dehumanized this man from his labor but also from means of life (his family).
The working class/ proletariats are the ones who are being controlled by the people of power/ bourgeoisie, who controls the production of goods produced by the labor workers. In Modern Times, the proletariats were not fighting back against the working conditions given by the bourgeois, but fighting against themselves, therefore their labour power became a commodity. Their labour (Charlie’s and the gentleman I spoke with) can be sold and bought and even traded, becoming just objects being operated by one mass machine. In conclusion, according to Marx, capitalism alienates workers from each other, no longer having relationships with each other. Both examples with Charlie Chaplin and the man I spoke with exemplify how individuals lose themselves and in some cases lose their families as well, in systematic control practices.
[1] Youtube video