David Schneider 
Are white-collar workers less alienated than factory workers according to Marx’s theory of alienation? [PDF ebook] 

Essay from the year 2018 in the subject Politics – Political Theory and the History of Ideas Journal, London School of Economics, language: English, abstract: In 1844 Karl Marx articulated his theory of alienation in his economical and philosophical manuscripts. Back then, most workers were ‘blue-collar’ factory workers. Nowadays, while there are still factory workers, a great percentage of people work in ‘white-collar’ jobs fulfilling administrative or managerial functions in offices. The aim of this essay is to investigate whether white-collar workers are less alienated than blue-collar workers.

First, I want to point out that humans have needs. Second, I present the four types of alienation that arise, according to Marx, in a capitalist system when humans work on satisfying their needs. Third, I analyse to what extent white-collar workers suffer from these types of alienation.

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Graduate student at the London School of Economics and Political Science