THE FOUNDATIONS OF MARX’S THEORY OF ALIENATION: MARX’S CRITIQUE OF HIS PREDECESSORS AND ALIENATED LABOUR

Marx’s conceptualization of alienation is influenced by his predecessors Hegel and Feuerbach. However, Marx neither accepts these conceptualizations as they are nor makes a synthesis of them. Instead, he builds his original theory of alienation on the criticism of his predecessors’ views on the subject. As a result, Marx’s theory of alienation becomes materialistic, historical and social. The historical and social conditions Marx was in pointed to the capitalist mode of production and the alienation of the working class caused by it as the causes of unfreedom. In the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, he focuses on the wage worker’s alienation stemming from the labour process. The purpose of this article is to present Marx’s critique of his predecessors in grounding the concept of alienation and his original contribution. For this, first of all, Marx’s criticisms of Hegel’s and then Feuerbach’s alienation theories will be explained. In this context, three points of criticism will be identified for each of them. Then, Marx’s theory of alienated labour will be discussed and the four aspects of the alienation of the worker will be examined. Based on Marx’s definition of alienated labour as forced labour, it will be argued that what causes alienation to productive activity, which Marx attributes a principal role compared to other aspects, is not division of labour or unpleasant work—or working conditions—but rather forced labour, which is a characteristic of the modes of production based on private property. The question of whether the alienation is specific to capitalism, which arises with this determination, may be a precursor for future studies.