In
spite of its clear and distinguished pedigree in European political philosophy
and theology, the concept of alienation is now associated, almost exclusively,
with Marxian critical theory and analysis. Yet, even within the orbit of Marxian
thought the meaning and function of the concept of alienation has not always
had a comfortable or stable position. Pointing to polysemic and intermittent use
in the Paris Manuscripts, and the
absence of explicit formation in Capital,
Louis Althusser advised discarding alienation like other “old philosophical
themes” (Althusser 1967.) Granted, there is a degree to which Marx’s own deployment
of alienation has several different conceptions and connotations, but the Grundrisse and other textual sources
provide evidence that alienation, its semantic elasticity notwithstanding, remained
central to Marx’s political economic analysis and his theory of history, even
while it appeared to ‘go underground’, so to speak, in his late thought.
Part
of the confusion around this concept arises from the fact that Marx appears to
use alienation as a kind of normative foundation, one which informs his various
critiques. A central historical rendering tends to describe workers’ inability
to fully realize their inner life in capitalist society outside of market
forces, hence they are separated from their “species being.” Adopted from
Feuerbach, and initially developed in the Paris
Manuscripts, Marx tends to understand species-being as comprising the
distinctive features of human being which when expressed facilitate the
conditions for human life to flourish. The ability to freely make and create is
central to this conception. But under capitalism the majority of people are
unable to exercise their capabilities. In this respect, alienation is a
normative assessment of the conditions of life and the potential possibility to
fulfill necessary elements of them themselves. One can see residue elements of
this sentiment in the language in and around the ideas associated with dignity,
humanity, and human flourishing.
In
terms of the analysis of capitalist social relations, Marx’s conception of
alienation is narrower and is applied to studies of exploitation in the labour
process. Alienation in this respect refers to how workers are separated or
estranged, from their products. As a social system, capitalism is structurally
dependent upon separating workers from their products and therefore requires dominating
means to force workers to comply in the reproduction of capitalist social relations.
Thus separation implies subordination. Additionally, there is a reconstructed rendering
of alienation wherein Marx’s concept of alienation can be reduced to “the
notion that people create the structures that dominate them” (Postone and Brennan 2009, 316). Herein, alienation is a
process by which persons are co-opted to reproduce their subordinate
conditions.
While
the idea of alienation has never quite disappeared from popular and scholarly
consciousness, in recent years the impetus to understand these structures seems
more urgent than it did only a decade ago. Indeed, when Leo Panitch, Greg Albo
and Vivek Chibber argue that, for many, “crisis is the new normal” (Panitch, Albo, and Chibber 2012, ix), they articulate the
conditions under which people both struggle to eke out the means of existence
and make sense of the world today as well as the structural constraints which
rigorously intercede and perpetuate social misery.
Increasingly,
capitalism is at the center of critical attention. This is evidenced by the
fact that Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the
Twenty-First Century, which details he inequalities generated under
capitalism (hardly a revelation), seems to struck a chord in the popular press,
so to speak. So to have Milanovic’s The
Haves and the Have-Nots and Joseph Stiglitz’s The Price of Inequality. Unfortunately, these analyses, while
detailing economic developments more broadly, are silent on issues of labor,
working conditions, and the prospects for people to cultivate their inner life
under contemporary capitalism. For this reason, alienation still nevertheless provides
a useful focus to explore contemporary social thought. There is a need for old
philosophical themes.
This
special issue of New Proposals seeks to collect and showcase scholarship
primarily concerned with using, refining, or deploying the concept of
alienation. Given the diverse expressions of alienation we invite contributions that explore the
historical, analytical, and practical underpinnings of the concept, its contemporary
fate, and speculations on the trajectory of this idea.
Recommended Length:
Peer-Reviewed academic articles: 4’000-6’000 words.
Shorter comments and arguments: 1’500- 2’500 words
Please send queries and expressions of interest (including title,
a 200 word abstract, a brief outline of the argument, affiliation, and contact
details) via email to the co-editors.
Scott
Timcke – snt2@sfu.ca
Graham
MacKenzie – gsmacken@sfu.ca
