Reaction Paper On Alienation

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Alienation Paper #1 The concept of alienation by Karl Marx continues to be relevant in today’s capitalistic society. Alienation is ingrained in capitalism. Alienation can cause one to feel unworthy, meaningless, powerless, and inhuman in the work that they do daily. Craftsmen were once able to create a product from beginning to end and sell it at the price they desired. They had their own schedule and could create things at their own pace. It was a way for people to be creative and express themselves. This is sometimes not the case in today’s society. Workers today are removed from the creativity and have zero control on the production process, how it is produce and sold. They also have no control over work hours. They are told when to show up and how long and if not, they are easily replaced by someone else. In the following, I will be reacting to the article, “In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an Ipad” by Charles Duhigg and David Barboza and how it relates to Karl Marx’s concept on alienation. The article is about the harsh working conditions at Foxconn in Chengdu, China. Foxconn is a major supplier for Apple products, building iPads, and is one of China’s biggest employers with 1.2 million workers. Employees are…show more content…
The worker puts his life into the object; but now his life no longer belongs to him but to the object (Appelrouth & Edles, 2016). If Apple were to close up shop, these factory workers would be nothing. Foxconn has had over a dozen suicides. A Foxconn employee fell or jumped from an apartment building after losing an iPhone prototype (Duhigg & Barboza, 2012). Factory workers’ have sold their soul for these products and unfortunately some take their own lives over them. No ones life is worth a cell phone. When you are alienated from yourself, you may feel that you have no purpose. This can cause mental illness or emotional distress, and lead to

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