ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Workers are alienated from the products of their labor. Capitalists need not do any labor themselves – simply by owning the means of production, they control the profit of the firm they own, and are enriched by it. But they can only make profit by selling commodities, which are entirely produced by workers.

Detailed explanation-2: -In a capitalist society, a worker’s alienation from their humanity occurs because the worker can express labour-a fundamental social aspect of personal individuality-only through a private system of industrial production in which each worker is an instrument: i.e., a thing, not a person.

Detailed explanation-3: -The four dimensions of alienation identified by Marx are alienation from: (1) the product of labor, (2) the process of labor, (3) others, and (4) self. Class experiences usually fit easily into these categories.

Detailed explanation-4: -Under capitalism, according to Marx, the productive powers of labour appear as the creative power of capital. Indeed, “labour power at work” becomes a component of capital, it functions as working capital.

Detailed explanation-5: -According to Marx’s theory of alienation, a worker can feel self-estranged from their work, their production, and other workers. This means that the person loses interest in why they are working, which can decrease their production and cause them to alienate themselves from other workers as well.