Alienation There were many allegations Karl Marx made pertaining to the rise of modern industrialism by the hands

of capitalist. Amongst them were his concept of alienation, which dealt with the control that workers had over both themselves and in the labor they conducted. His concept supplemented his idea of a sharply divided of society of two groups, those who were "property owners and property-less workers." ( Marx 282). And among these two groups he observes the nefarious-like effect of capitalism on property-less workers in relation to production and capital. Alienation within the capitalist mode of production was took on several forms, the first of which Marx explained was the alienation from the product that a worker produced. To capitalist, the value of workers are not the workers themselves, but of what they can produce; in other words their labor and the fruits that it generates. According to Marx the labor performed exists independently of the worker and that it embodies itself as a commodity that is produced by labor; "this product is an objectification of labor" (Marx 282). One would think that the harder someone works, the greater his reward will be; Marx claims the relationship is quite the opposite in a capitalist factory. The greater the output from the worker the greater the workers control diminishes. The product, the objectification of labor, assumes a greater control over the worker. In essence the creation takes hold and enslaves its creator, the authority is reversed. Marx summarizes the this reverse in relationship and its effect as an independent force, "it exists independently, outside to him as an autonomous power. The life which he has given to the object sets itself against him as an alien and hostile force."(Marx 283). In the capitalist factory, the worker does not own what he creates, his labor and creation belongs to the property-owner, effectively alienating the worker from the product.

Not only is the worker alienated from his creation, he is also detached from the process that produces his creation; the worker is alienated from "the act of production within labor"(Marx 284) as Marx describes. Just as the worker cannot claim authority over his creation, neither can the worker control the method in which he can produce that object. The worker has no say in how fast or creatively he wants to work. His method of labor is controlled by the capitalist who own the factory and product; and they driven by demand for greater profit. In effect the worker becomes devalued, he finds no satisfaction in his work activity. Marx calls this forced labor, where the worker is not working for the gratification of a need, but rather as a means of gratifying needs outside itself (Marx 284). Their work does not contribute to their humanity, rather it alienates them from themselves. It is in human nature to derive our livelihood from the world around us, or as Marx puts it "man lives from inorganic nature" (Marx 284). Nature is a part of us just as the product is a part of the worker that created it. But in alienated labor, just as the product becomes independent of the worker, man is estranged from nature. Workers can no longer shape their work in accordance to their interest, a contrast to what they were naturally meant to do. Instead they are bound by forced labor, unable to fulfill their own human nature or purpose. The consequences of alienated labor all lead to the idea that the worker is victimized and exploited by the property owners. Quality of life for workers diminish, and their defining traits as humans are stripped away. As the wealth produced by the worker increases the hostile forces grow greater in power and the more devalued the workers become. Karl Marx believes that capitalism strips workers of their true potential as human beings, their creativity and identity are all stripped away in the name of profit.