Estranged Labor Marx

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Marx argues that freedom and self-worth are unattainable through the capitalist system, specifically through his analyzation of estranged labor. He states, “…the more the worker spends himself, the more powerful becomes the alien world of objects which he creates over and against himself, the poorer he himself – his inner world – becomes, the less belongs to him as his own.”, or in other words a worker does not benefit from his work, and instead produces for the higher classes as he himself grows poorer (Marx, 29). Marx attempts to prove that a worker can only be a free individual if he is a worker for a common goal, but makes the mistake of assuming that diversity of work and product creates weakness. Mill, however offers the different and more compelling view that “I insist thus emphatically on the importance of genius and the necessity of allowing it to unfold itself freely both in thought and in practice” (Mill, 62). In other words, capitalism allows originality to show, to distinguish a genius from non-genius, and motivation to be created through individual work, thus pushing individuals to “pursue their own good in their own way” (Mill,12). I find Mill’s argument to be more accurate; how else can a society of varying skills make progress in varying directions?…show more content…
He claims, “In estranging from man (1) nature, and (2) himself, his own active functions, his life activity, estranged labor estranges the species from man.”, which attempts to comment on how capitalism dehumanizes the laborer, and the laborer belongs specifically to that object he produces (Marx, 31). The result is that they become only the capital necessary to produce a product. For Marx labor turns humans into to a means of production. However I am still not convinced that producing a variety of work for others is only a hindering

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