Alienation According To Marx

What does one mean by alienation? Alienation is said to be the misperceived separation of essence from the object that it characterizes.1 In 1844 Karl Marx wrote and published The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, better known as The Paris Manuscripts. This was Karl Marx’s first work, where he writes a study about alienation of workers. Alienation manifests itself in many different forms. Marx argues that;
“One must understand, there are three types of alienation. The first type of alienation is alienation from oneself. The second type of alienation is alienation from his fellow human beings. The third type of alienation is alienation from the world as a whole. These three forms of alienation are interconnected.†This is the core of his approach to the problem of alienation.
However, Alienation has also been associated with early theological writings to refer to the estrangement of a person from God as well.2 Therefore it is without question that Alienation can be extremely harmful as its principle action is to cause people to feel isolated and alone.
The recognition of man as a “species†becomes important to the theory of Alienation, which is central to Marx’s

Our fellow human beings: Thirdly, we are alienated from our fellow human beings. This alienation arises in part because of the antagonisms which inevitably arise from the class structure of society.9 We are alienated from those who exploit our labour and control the things we produce. As Marx put it:

There is nothing natural about the social crises we face: it is our social organisation which prevents us enjoying the potential of our ability to produce. Marx developed his theory of alienation to reveal the human activity that lies behind the seemingly impersonal forces dominating society. He showed how, although aspects of the society we live in appear natural and independent of us, they are the results of past human actions.

As humans are social beings, we have the ability to act collectively to further our interests. However, under capitalism that ability is submerged under private ownership and the class divisions it produces. We have the ability to consciously plan our production, to match what we produce with the developing needs of society. But under capitalism that ability is reversed by the anarchic drive for profits. Thus, rather than consciously shaping nature, we cannot control, or even foresee, the consequences of our actions. For example, new, cheaper techniques of production may, when repeated across industry, produce acid rain or gases which destroy the ozone layer. Similarly, when one capitalist improves production in his factory, he is unwittingly contributing to the slowing up of the rate of profits for his class as a whole by lowering the rate of profit.11 One firm can produce to fulfil a particularly sharp demand, only to find when the goods hit the market that other firms got there first. Instead of simply meeting demand, there is a surplus in the market. This means that we produce more but what we produce is superfluous. All previous societies suffered from shortages, famines and the failure of crops. Under capitalism recess