Alienation from the product and the productive activity affects consumption. We are surrounded by unbelievable amounts of things whose nature and origin we know anything. We consume the same way we produce, without any concrete connection to the products with which we are dealing. We have got used to the fact that whenever we need something, we just go out and buy it. Most of the time we do not know how e.g. the clothes we buy are made and how much labour was needed in making them. It is easy to fall to a fallacy that goods and services "exchange at a certain rate because of their inherent values"... and not because they stand in relation to human labour. This is called "commodity fetishism". In the old attitude there was a sense of attachment between a person and his property. People took care of their property, were proud of it and were sad when had to part from it. There is little left of this attitude today. The act of buying and consuming has turned to become an end in itself, just like money in the case of working. In this way work is alienating to the extent that it indirectly alienates from consumption and commodities as well.
The ability to produce things freely and creatively is distinctive to human beings according to Marx...He argued that men become alienated from themselves when they are restricted from exercising this ability. The same applies to estrangement from the productive activity discussed in the previous paragraph. Under capitalism productive life is reduced to minimal. Suppose I was a maths teacher planning a lesson to be given in few days time. I would have to take into consideration what the facts are I' expected to teach, there are bound to be certain things that must be taught to the pupils. If I did not do so I would be violating my work contract and get sacked eventually. There are strict time constraints regulating how I have to work, certain topics must be taught within a certain time. There are also conventional ways of teaching and if I would break them, or possibly some standards e.g. by not using exams to evaluate the students' mathematical knowledge, I would again be in danger of losing my job. The point I'm trying to make is that all these constraints and supervision do not leave too much space for creative and free activity. When this distinctive human characteristic cannot be exercised to its full potential alienation from ourselves appears.
Under today's market economy system workers may feel as if they were commodities. Think about a job interview. In a sense a person applying for a job has to sell himself to the employer. He has to convince the employer of the qualities in him that are needed to perform the task in case. If he manages to do that a contract is made between the two of them in which the employer agrees to be exploited and the employer to pay wage for it. Without any special qualities i.e. skills the worker is in constant danger of being replaced by someone more skilful. He maybe displaced by a machine as easily which would probably make him feel even more like a commodity. Because work is an important part of human nature our sense of value depends largely on our success to 'sell ourselves' favourably. We, consciously or not, try to improve our chances in the labour market by strengthening the qualities in ourselves, which we think are demanded by the market and striking out those we consider harmful. Our "bodies, minds and souls are our capital...from which we try to profit"...This is another way we become alienated from ourselves by work and it can be observed in it's most radical form in the case of a suicide. It is not rare for people who become unemployed to take their own lives. Without work they feel worthless. Working - alienating or not- that once gave value to them is taken away and along with it goes their value.
We perceive other people as commodities in the same way we do with ourselves. Because of the job scarcity in the labour market workers find themselves in competition with each other. The consequence of this competitive nature of work is that we do not evaluate our activities by the criteria of how well we have done considering our own abilities but instead by comparing our deeds with others'. We do not trust our fellow men for we are afraid they might take advantage of us in order to secure their place in the job market. Likewise we are driven by selfish interests and try to profit from others. This form of alienation from other workers applies to relationships outside the workplace as well. We aim to create relationships with people who have got the qualities that are helpful for our purposes. We do not comprehend people as entireties but possessing loose qualities. For example a student struggling with her essay might go and ask help from somebody in her seminar group whom she thinks is good at the topic in question. That person represents to her a profitable connection to have at that point of her life. If someone would then ask her who that person was the answer might be something like: "Oh, he is just someone who happens to have a good understanding of Marx." He is not considered a unique, diversified individual-an entirety.
Another sphere of alienation from others can be observed in the institution of family. Members of a family used to work together for a mutual benefit. The sons would usually learn their craft from their father and daughters from their mother. This is very rare today. With women working outside home as well as men, and children going to school the traditional closeness of the family has disappeared. Especially if parents are working in shifts the time spent together as a family may be reduced to minimum. In this way work estranges from the family.
I think it is important to understand there are different levels of alienation and their extent caused by work depending upon individual experience and circumstances. The examples I have given so far are by no means to be understood to apply to everybody in exactly the way I have explained them. I have merely presented them to illustrate my points. Equally it would be stupid to claim that in these alienation processes work is the only influencing factor. Among others, selfishness and greediness, which I believe to be characteristics of human nature may be co-operating with, work e.g. when we are alienated from our fellow men. Perhaps it is some inbuilt tendency in us to try to profit from others in order to maximise our survival chances. In any case alienation originating from work is in different level-more total-in our modern society from any pre-modern society. Almost everyone of us, there are always exceptions, is alienated in some way or other and to some extent or other. In general, in a pre-modern society workers were not alienated from their products or act of production. Notable group of exceptions to mention is the slaves. They were estranged because working was only the means to an end ie. the possible freedom to be gained. I do not believe any future society can be free from alienation because there are too many people on Earth competing for the scarce resources. Work causing us to perceive both ourselves and others as commodities goes sometimes to the extent that individuals are being physically sold e.g. when human organs are used for sale in South-America or parents sell their children to prostitution. These are cases of high level of alienation. On the other hand an artist 'selling himself' via his albums may not see himself as a commodity since it is a voluntary act, not physical and concrete. His level of alienation is low. I could give many more examples of the different levels of estrangement but I think I have made my point clear want to turn to a more puzzling and philosophical question.
Marx... argued that even though people cannot necessarily realise that work has any alienating effects on them they are still alienated. Robert Blauner...seems to suggest a differing view to this argument. His position is that if someone does not feel alienated then maybe he is not. I tend to agree with both views. On the one hand since we live in a society with so much alienation it is quite impossible to avoid it to some extent at least. We may feel satisfied with our work and relationships but at the same time be estranged. On the other hand if somebody claims you are something but you do not think it is true, which one of you is right? This is a complex question and I think the answer is a matter of opinion. My opinion is that we should respect the view of the individual whose 'characteristics' are under examination. This is why I consider Blauner's view as plausible as Marx's is. Only this raises the question whether it is possible on the whole to be alienated from something that has not been there in the first place. I mean if I was born to a society, which was already alienated, and I had never experienced a non-alienated state how could I possibly become alienated. Since the purpose of this essay is not to discuss the notion of alienation I will not speculate this point further.
In this essay I have presented some ways in which work is alienating. Basically we lose contact with the product, the act of productivity, others and ourselves. The extent of these processes I have explained by their effect on consumption, relationships in general and so on. I believe alienation can be found in any society and it is important to realize different levels of it. Lowering these levels e.g. by trying to bring unemployment down should be the governments' primary task since as H.D. Thoreau once wrote: "All men want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather something to be."
