Alienation is the estrangement of human beings from their labor, others, society, nature, or their own human essence. What humans create can turn back and dominate them.
Alienation matters because it describes a deep discomfort of modern life. Marx used alienation to analyze capitalist labor: workers create products but do not own them, and cannot realize themselves in the labor process. Modern alienation appears not only in factories, but also in consumption, social media, and algorithmic platforms. People express themselves, yet become bound by metrics. They seek connection, yet feel lonely. Philosophy asks whether alienation can be overcome or is unavoidable in complex modern society. Alienation reminds us that the problem is not only psychological, but a distorted relation between human beings and the systems they create.
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- What Is Modernity?
- What Is Labor?
- What Is Power?
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