Theory Of Alienation Research Articles

SOCIAL IDENTITY AND ITS IMPACTS ON YOZO OBA’S ALIENATION IN “NO LONGER HUMAN”

This research is conducted to understand social identity development and its impacts on alienation experienced by Yozo Oba, the main character in Osamu Dazai’s No Longer Human (1958). This study applies the Social Identity Theory (SIT) by Trepte & Loy (2017) and Fromm’s theory of alienation (in Nadhiroh, 2015) to analyze how Yozo’s experiences influence his social identity development and how it affects his actions throughout his life. This research uses a qualitative descriptive approach and a close-reading method to collect and analyze the data. The primary data is the English translation of the novel by Donald Keene (1958), and secondary data is collected from journals, articles, and books related to SIT and the theory of alienation. The analysis of Yozo Oba using the principles of Social Categorization, Social Identity, and Self-Esteem from SIT, and the concept of alienation from oneself, alienation from others, and alienation from society shows that Yozo Oba developed a dissatisfying social identity which affected his experience and behaviors, and led him to feel alienation from himself, others, and the society.

Alienation of Female Characters in the Movie Fair Play (2023) as Main Breadwinners in the View of Jaggar

The capitalist patriarchal system materializes in every aspect of life, even in the workplace, resulting in men and women's alienation. Unlike previous studies on women's alienation, this article examines the alienation of women as main breadwinners in a financial sector. Through film analysis, this article discusses the movie Fair Play released by Netflix in 2023. The movie focuses on a woman named Emily who gets a higher position than her fiancé in a securities company, causing jealousy. The movie Fair Play tries to distort the reality of how women are able to get higher positions in a male-dominated system. Drawing on Alison Jaggar's alienation theory, this article attempts to show how the form of alienation experienced by Emily as a woman is different from the alienation experienced by men in a capitalist patriarchal system. Using qualitative method in analyzing Fair Play movie scenes, the study reveals that alienation experienced by workers, whether female or male, is the result of an exploitative capitalist system. The article also argues that Emily experiences alienation of sexuality and intellectuality because of her femininity. This implies that women experience double standards because of the double burden caused by gender roles. It concludes that women experience alienation differently from men because of their gender. By eliminating of the concepts of masculinity and femininity, this alienation experienced differently by women can be overcome.

Либерализм как предпосылка биополитики: концепт М. Фуко и российско-советская практика в контексте теории политического отчуждения

Michel Foucault posed the problem of analyzing state interest (hereinafter referred to as GI) and finding ways to limit it. To solve the problem, he formulated the starting premises: orthodoxy (in religion) and loyalty (in politics) are not the norms of religious and state life; the state is not a transhistorical phenomenon, and its interests are not supra-individual; therefore, revolutions (and not stability) are the norm of state existence. In order to substantiate these premises, Foucault developed cognitive means: the denial of universals and the formulation of the problem of possible history; nominalistic definition of GI; criticism of the current economic, military-diplomatic and police forms of implementation of the GI; fixing the contrast between the foreign and domestic policies of states; qualification of law, political economy and truth as ways to limit GI and necessary prerequisites for biopolitics. These also include liberalism. In the course of lectures “The Birth of Biopolitics,” Foucault considers liberalism as the basis of a new art of government. As part of this art, he discovered and analyzed a specific problem-conceptual structure: the relationship between moderate governance and the market; transition from jurisdiction to verification; mode of truth; the difference between government and state interests; the relationship between law and truth; political critique of knowledge; police state; ways to limit government power; concepts of law; modern state mind. The purpose of the article is to summarize Foucault’s conclusions about the main elements of this structure and pose the problem of their application to explaining the preconditions of Russian-Soviet biopolitics in the context of the theory of political alienation.

The Alienated Academia: Exploring the Lives of Visiting Faculty in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through Karl Marx’s Theory of Alienation

The Alienated Academia: Exploring the Lives of Visiting Faculty in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through Karl Marx’s Theory of Alienation

‘I am human’: A Blochian glance at daydreams in Turkish advertising and popular culture

This article discusses utopian facets of advertisements and popular cultural products by employing the Blochian formulation of utopia. Grounded in Marx’s theory of alienation, the article asserts that the people encounter numerous socio-economic and emotional deprivations in the capitalist social order. By generating images of an alternative and better future where these deprivations are eliminated, advertisements and popular cultural products achieve a utopian function. Yet this utopian function remains an abstract utopia since it is not equipped with a concrete historical contextualization offered by Marxist dialectic. The discussion is backed by a succinct review of certain video advertisements and pop songs produced by Turkish cultural industries.

“A war waged with numbers”: Accounting and accumulation by alienation in Australia’s border industrial complex

PurposeThis paper explores the role of accounting and accountability techniques in contributing to Australia’s border industrial complex.Design/methodology/approachWe use the political thought of Behrouz Boochani to explore the role that accounting techniques play at the micro and macro level of his dialectic of alienation and freedom. Firstly, we explore the accounting and accountability techniques detailed in Boochani’s No Friend but the Mountain, which gives an account of his life in Manus Prison, and the accounting techniques he experienced. Secondly, we explore the discourse of alienation created within the annual reporting of the Australian Federal Government regarding the border industrial complex.FindingsWe argue that the border industrial complex requires the alienation of asylum seekers from their own humanity for capital accumulation, and that accounting and accountability techniques facilitate this form of alienation. These techniques include inventorying, logging and queuing at the micro level within Manus Prison. This alienates those trapped in the system from one another and themselves. Techniques also include annual reporting at a macro level which alienates those trapped in the system from the (White) “Australian Community”. However, these techniques are resisted at every point by assertions of freedom.Originality/valueWe illustrate the role of accounting in accumulation by alienation, where the unfreedom of incarcerated asylum seekers is a site of profit for vested interests. But also that this alienation is resisted at every point by refusals of alienation as assertions of freedom. Thus, this study contributes to the accounting literature by drawing from theories of alienation, and putting forward the dialectic of alienation and freedom articulated by Boochani and collaborators.

A Study of Female Alienation in The Year of the Flood From the Perspective of Fromm's Alienation Theory

The Year of the Flood is the second book in Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam Trilogy. As a Canadian literary queen, Margaret mainly explores the issue of women's situation and prospects in the society. She depicts the current situation of women with delicate strokes, and The Year of the Flood is a typical example of this. This novel depicts the post-apocalyptic scenario faced by mankind after a waterless flood. The work delves into the postmodern society's over-reliance on technology and material development. People blindly pursue development rather than to fulfil real needs. In this background, the novel reveals the alienating effects of the egoistic tendencies of the society on women's existential condition. This paper applies Fromm's Alienation Theory to analyse the existential situation faced by women in the novel in a capitalist society. The society tends to take economic growth and technological progress as the criteria for measuring social progress, while ignoring the carrying capacity of the ecological environment and the spiritual needs of human beings. This single path of pursuing development not only causes damage to nature, but also alienates women's state of being. Margaret Atwood's works aim to provoke thinking and self-reflection, calling attention to the interactive relationship between man and nature, and man and society. She tries to establish a social order full of respect, equality and social responsibility. Only by truly liberating women and paying attention to the natural environment can mankind achieve true freedom and liberation.

Marx, automation and the politics of recognition within social institutions

This paper deals with the issue of Karl Marx’s views regarding automation, about which a great deal has been written recently, not least because of developments which have taken place in computing technology, Artificial Intelligence, and digital capitalism. One issue here is whether Karl Marx, one of the foremost theoreticians of the history of capitalism in its industrial phase, in the mid-nineteenth century, has anything to say about automation that is relevant to those writing about that subject today. The paper is also a contribution to a research project that is devoted to the politics of recognition within social institutions from the time of the ancient Greeks to the present. It offers a new way of thinking about Marx’s criticisms of a capitalist society and his views regarding the organization of economic production under communism. The particular social institution which Marx has in mind is the factory. These two issues are related because Marx holds that the organization of labour within the factory is closely connected to the phenomenon of automation. Marx assumes that the expression ‘automatic factory’ is a pleonasm. The paper is composed of three parts. In Part 1, I offer an account of Marx’s views regarding automation as an economic phenomenon in Capital. In Parts 2 and 3, I consider two different readings of Marx’s views regarding the social and political significance of automation. One of these focuses on the idea of the politics of distribution, the material standard of living, and regards workers as ‘patients.’ The other focuses on the politics of recognition, the phenomenon of alienation, the idea of the quality of life, and thinks of workers as being ‘agents.’ There is evidence to support each of these readings in Marx’s writings and they are best thought of as being mutually supportive or complementary, rather than as being directly opposed to one another. If we are to adequately grasp Marx’s views regarding the significance of automation overall, then we need to take both of these readings into account. The paper emphasises the significance of Marx’s views regarding democratic ‘citizenship’ within the factory, an aspect of Marx’s theory of alienation which tends to be overlooked.

现代人的生存困境——弗洛姆异化理论下《疯癫亚当三部曲》中的异化主题探究

Margaret Atwood is one of the most influential and prolific female writers in contemporary Canada and she is also known as the “Queen of Canadian Literature”. Her works involve gender, ethnicity, ecology, politics and other fields, and constantly reflect on human survival through revealing the nature of society. In The MaddAddam Trilogy, Atwood explores the plight faced by modern people by analyzing the alienated relations between the protagonists and themselves, others and society, and embodies Atwood’s humanistic concern. Therefore, based on Fromm’s theory of alienation, this paper interprets the theme of alienation in the trilogy, discusses its causes and solutions, in order to solve the dilemma of modern people’s existence and promote the healthy development of their personality.

Philosophical Critique and Decoding Path of Rosa's New Alienation

The theory of alienation occupies a very important position in Marx's theoretical system. In the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Marx criticizes classical political economy in England starting from alienated labor and puts forward four aspects of alienated labor. The Frankfurt School further developed Marx's theory of alienation and conducted comprehensive investigations on technological alienation, cultural alienation, consumer alienation, and other aspects of modern society's culture, politics, and art. In the new turn of late modern society, the fourth generation Frankfurt School scholar Hartmut Rosa, starting from time analysis, analyzes the growth logic and dynamic stability of modern society's overall crisis through the theory of social acceleration critique, and proposes the social pathologies of "acceleration" and the solution of "resonance", attempting to achieve a better life for people in the present era through the adaptive mode of resonance theory. Based on Hartmut Rosa's works and related research, this article explores the theoretical origins of Rosa's theory of social acceleration critique, the historical background and ideological elements, elaborates on Rosa's analysis of the phenomenon of social acceleration, the new forms of alienation under the background of accelerated society, and the resonant solutions to the problem of new alienation. Finally, this article examines the theoretical value and shortcomings of his theory.

Walking on eggshells: elementary school teacher alienation in parent-teacher relationships in China

ABSTRACT Conflicts in the parent-teacher relationships have become conspicuous and inevitable, deteriorating the supposedly mutually beneficial relationship. To understand teachers’ negative experiences in such relationships and underlying reasons, this study, based on alienation theory and its latter extensions, collected and analysed eight teachers’ in-depth interviews and 47 pieces of school-life observation records in a Chinese elementary school. The findings revealed that although elementary school teachers adopted different strategies to handle parent-teacher relationships, each experienced at least one dimension of alienation (powerlessness, meaninglessness, isolation, or self-estrangement). Especially, they felt “double powerlessness”: loss of control in relationships with both the school and parents. To be specific, the major sources of double powerlessness are the big gaps in educational attainment, wealth, and social connections between teachers and parents. However, teachers can still be partially empowered by their identity, colleagues, and even educational bureaucracy to resist alienation.

Marx’s Alienation- A Philosophical Perspective: Why Marx Cannot Give Up the Hunt for Alien Life in Capitalism?

Marx’s alienation theory asserts that the untrue appearance of humans is a form of inflictions of human beings detached from their essential nature as species-being with the power to make, which Marx alludes to as use-value, qualitative formation, practicing and creating work relation, creativity, and collective objectification amid a production realm of productive being’s own making’s. He examines human history by examining the production realm, its impact on social formations, intercourse, and the organization of social power that constrains and enables human nature. This realm can be organized according to human’s essential nature or transcend it, leading to alienation as an alien power that supersedes or expropriates the power of original producers. Freedom amid the production realm is central to Marx’s argument about alienation. This article investigates two interrelated subjects: alienation arising from transcending human nature and freedom evolving amid the production realm. The researcher in this article argues that freedom is the free development of individuals and society’s power, rather than “receiving freedom” that arises from detaching producers from their realm. Part I of this article provides an overview of Marx’s philosophical science on species-being, Part II focuses on his characterization of alienation in his works including; On the Jewish Question, The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts 1844 and Capital Volume I, and Part III highlight selected aspects in Hegel’s and Robert Nozick’s philosophies that is of relevance to Marx’s alienation. Marx distinguishes between estrangement/alienation and objectification, with the latter referring to the relation with the object as either objectification to species-being life or loss of the thing and bondage through abstract labor objectified in commodities in capitalism. The former is “appropriation as estrangement, as alienation.”

Using Alienation to Understand the Link Between Work and Capabilities

ABSTRACT The last five decades have witnessed sociologists formulating various scales to measure and assess the degree of alienation of workers. Critical Marxists, however, argue that de-ideologisation and valueneutrality cannot be seen as desirable properties of a reconceptualization of the Marxian notion of alienation. Most Marxist scholars are not in favour of a comparative-quantitative analysis of Marx's theory of alienation. Nevertheless, Sen situates Marx's theory in the category of those which carry out “realization-focused comparison” (as opposed to “transcendental institutionalism”), by comparing societies that actually exist or may evolve. This paper articulates the need for an operationalization of the concept of alienation in empirical terms and calls for a meaningful dialogue between the capability approach to meaningful work and the emerging and significant body of literature on alienation and capabilities. It argues that alienation, translated to the capability vocabulary as “impairments in responsible agency to attain the capabilities one has reason to value” may also be mapped onto failed social relationships. Even when we do not limit the concept of alienation to the system-anti-system binary, we need to understand it in the context of the failures of economic institutions existing in the contemporary world.

Rosa’s New Alienation Theory and Its Therapeutic Efficacy

Rosa’s New Alienation Theory and Its Therapeutic Efficacy

Reflections on the Alienation of Contemporary Artificial Intelligence Based on the Theory of Alienation of Marcuse Technology

Reflections on the Alienation of Contemporary Artificial Intelligence Based on the Theory of Alienation of Marcuse Technology

The Realistic Representation and Solution of Labor Alienation Caused by Humanoid Robots—Based on the Perspective of Marx’s Labor Alienation Theory

The Realistic Representation and Solution of Labor Alienation Caused by Humanoid Robots—Based on the Perspective of Marx’s Labor Alienation Theory

Görünmez Engeller ve Parçalanmış Hayatlar: Arundhati Roy'un The God Of Small Things İsimli Eserinde Yabancılaşma ve Uzaklaşma

Arundhati Roy's novel, The God of Small Things, is a complex portrayal of alienation and estrangement experienced by its characters within the socio-political milieu of postcolonial India. Roy skillfully exposes the impact of societal norms and caste divisions on personal relationships, resulting in profound emotional isolation and rupture within the family unit. This evocative narrative sheds light on the disempowerment and disenfranchisement experienced by the estranged and marginalized voices. From this point of view, considering the theories of alienation, this article analyzes the various forms of alienation and estrangement depicted in the novel and explores their underlying causes and consequences. The analysis delves into the theme of familial alienation, focusing on the forbidden love between fraternal twins Estha and Rahel, and the subsequent estrangement within their family. Furthermore, the article examines the characters' alienation from the political and cultural landscape of India. It explores how the colonial legacy, combined with the rigid social hierarchy, leads to the marginalization of certain groups and individuals, ultimately deepening their sense of estrangement. Additionally, through a close reading of the novel, this article reveals how Roy employs narrative techniques such as fragmented chronology and lyrical prose to mirror the characters' fragmented identities and fragmented society. It explores the ways in which alienation and estrangement manifest themselves in the novel, and how they are inextricably linked to broader social and historical forces.

Immigrant’s Cultural Alienation in Elaine Chiew’s Face

This research focuses on the cultural alienation of an elderly Chinese immigrant narrated in Elaine Chiew’s Face (2019). Face is a story that highlights the life of Yun, an elderly Chinese woman who moves to London and feels alienated from her surroundings. To analyze the data, the descriptive qualitative method and Seeman’s theory of alienation (1959) are employed. This research discovers that alienation undergone by elderly can be resulted from powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, isolation, and self-estrangement. Powerlessness rises when the elderly immigrants could not cope with bullying problem, while feeling meaninglessness comes from their inability in doing productive activities like what they had in their home-land. Incapability to adapt with the culture, norms, and values in the host-country results in their normlessness detaching them more from their surroundings. It worsens due to the language barrier, no same-aged friends, and geriatric bladder issues. Lastly, their social functions that do not work well lead them into self-estrangement. The findings of this research show that cultural alienation experienced by elderly immigrants could lead them into identity crisis.

The Commemorative Use of Social Alienation and Displacement in Ice-Candy Man by Sidhwa

Any kind of evil prevailing in society damages the system on a general level and hurts humans at individual level. Living peacefully and becoming no harm to the other members of society is the first rule of humanity and colonization is one of the major social wrongdoings that ended up affecting nations and societies. With this background, this particular study tends to explore social alienation and displacement from Robertson et al. (1994), as an effect of colonization. This research bases upon the psychological and physical state of the colonized in context to their feelings and actions presenting how the colonization traumatized them with emotions of detachment and loneliness by analysing Sidhwa’s novel Ice-candy Man. The study depends upon the qualitative approach in which the theory of social alienation and displacement is used to analyze the text, implementing the physical and metaphorical displacement and effects of involuntary exile by Robertson et al. (1994). The findings of the research clarify the fact that colonization has a clear influence on social alienation and displacement not only in the physical way but also in extraordinarily subtle and psychological ways. This research draws attention towards how something physically insignificant as displacement without even being moved and alienation without getting socially alienated ruin lives. How harmfully it ignites the engine of utter hatred and revenge and brutally it turns out by destroying not just individuals but communities prevailing hatred and vengeance for coming generations. This research has the tendency to give base to new research that may try to solve issues of subtle displacement and alienation and how it ends in the long run.

Honouring Uncelebrated Heroes in Maaza Mengiste’s <i>The Shadow King</i> and <i>Beneath the Lion’s Gaze</i>

This paper examines literary representations of marginalised, uncelebrated heroes in two novels by Maaza Mengiste: The Shadow King and Beneath the Lion’s Gaze. The central argument is that Mengiste excavates and portrays the overlooked heroic contributions of select male and female protagonists to honour their legacy and illuminate their vital yet under-recognised roles in constructing Ethiopian national identity. By adopting close textual analysis, the paper examines the conception of ‘heroism’ to characters derived from Mengiste’s fictionalised historiography centred upon Ethiopia. Furthermore, the sociocultural and ideological factors engendering the marginalisation of these heroic figures shall be scrutinised within the novels’ specific narrative contexts. Incorporating critical theoretical perspectives, the efficacy of violence as a liberating praxis against political oppression shall be evaluated through the lens of Frantz Fanon. At the same time, Marxian theories of alienation are employed to elucidate the subjective motivations compelling certain protagonists towards heroic but uncelebrated deeds. Methodologically, the paper is grounded in a close literary analysis of the theme of unheralded heroism within the two primary texts. A synthesis of supplementary scholarly perspectives bolsters this paper’s central thesis regarding unrecognised heroic narratives. The paper argues that despite contributing substantially to anti-oppressive struggles, Mengiste’s marginal protagonists remain uncelebrated within Ethiopia’s dominant historical discourses due to their race, class, gender, and ideological positionality.