| This question <72|72> overall <78|80> Hans: <78|82>. |
| Question 175: Student Sarah submitted the following answer to Question 174: These two phrases are vaguely linked, yet I would believe that alienation is derived from exploitation more so than the other. A laborer who is alienated from the beginning and realizes it may not be so prone to exploitation. Therefore exploitation of the laborer and his labor is still possible, because he rationalizes that even though he was alienated, his own interests were met. This gives him the ability to produce without prejudice for the outcome, because his own interests are why he allows exploitation. What does Sarah mean by this answer? Explain in your own words what you think Sarah wanted to say, and comment on it. |
| [79] Hans: The Protective Shield of a Bad Attitude Fictitious Sarah considers alienation to be a psychological attitude. This is a different meaning than the one ued generally by Marx and discussed in Question 174, where alienation is the quality how individuals fit into society. Sarah's paradoxical statement that one cannot be exploited as easily if one is alienated makes sense if one understands it to mean: one does not feel exploitation as much if one has an alienated attitude. Zeek [72] recognizes this: |
| People that are alienated don't really care what they do or that of a little exploitation as long as their needs are met (subsistence). |
| Even if individual workers are numbed to their exploitation, it is still necessary to fight against exploitation because it contaminates the whole society. It subverts our thinking because we are not allowed to see exploitation, and violence is needed for keep people in line. I sometimes think that the layer of the population in the USA which suffers most under capitalism are the children. Not only are they the weakest element who everybody else dumps on. Moreover they are still whole, and they have to be crippled in order to fit into a sick system. |
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