Marx's Theory of Alienation In Sociology

The absence of relation to the Other causes a crisis of gratification. As recognition, gratification presupposes the instance of the Other (or the “Third Party”). It is impossible to reward oneself or to acknowledge oneself. For Kant, God represents the instance of gratification: He rewards and acknowledges moral accomplishment. Because the structu

This type of industrialized labor, according to Marx, estranged workers not only from what they produced but also from their humanity—from the communities and identities that made them who they were.

Unions and the state might have been outdated, but nothing was nurtured to replace them. Instead, all that was left was individual, atomised power: power that could only be mobilised by appeal to self-interest, and could only be expressed in the choice between options, not the power to shape those options.