Abstract

The manifestation of addiction in modern day American society is novel in its materialization. Marxist concepts of self-estrangement and alienation provides a frame for viewing the way market capitalism and the way labor distribution negatively impact individuals because it supplies humans with false needs and a sense of disillusionment. The utilization of labor as identity and emphasis on profit creates a divide between a person and his self, a disconnect that ultimately causes an overarching culture of dissatisfaction in multiple areas of life. Durkheim’s conceptualizations of anomie theorize the classification of addiction as a form of slow suicide due to external social forces, and the functionalist theory of society serves as a frame for the purpose the addict identity as deviant plays an important role in instigating and upholding certain ideologies of capitalist control and individualism.    Key words: Marx, Durkheim, addiction, capitalism.

Highlights

  • The way addiction has manifested itself within modern American society is incredibly distinctive in its materialization, but in how it reveals the emotional and psychological harms perpetuated by the modern day capitalist market economy

  • Capitalism defines our needs for us, but in a way that is in terms of profit, rather than in a method that supports people; with labor as the expression of human life, life itself becomes a means of production solely (Marx, 1844)

  • Capitalism forces people to leave themselves, encouraging people to suppress and diminish aspects of their humanness in order to survive within this system

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Summary

Samantha McIntyre

The manifestation of addiction in modern day American society is novel in its materialization. Marxist concepts of self-estrangement and alienation provides a frame for viewing the way market capitalism and the way labor distribution negatively impact individuals because it supplies humans with false needs and a sense of disillusionment. The utilization of labor as identity and emphasis on profit creates a divide between a person and his self, a disconnect that causes an overarching culture of dissatisfaction in multiple areas of life. Durkheim’s conceptualizations of anomie theorize the classification of addiction as a form of slow suicide due to external social forces, and the functionalist theory of society serves as a frame for the purpose the addict identity as deviant plays an important role in instigating and upholding certain ideologies of capitalist control and individualism

INTRODUCTION
DRUGS AS DISRUPTION
LABOR AS EXPRESSION
THE CULTURE OF OBJECTIFICATION
IDENTITY AND PATHOLOGY OF ADDICTS
IDEOLOGY OF CONTROL
FUNCTION OF BELONGING
CONCLUSION
Full Text
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