1) What is "alienation" and what do you know about it at an experiential level (have you experienced/seen/felt it) and does reading Marx make you think or feel about alienation differently?
Alienation is the "The process whereby the worker is made to feel foreign to the products of his/her own labor. The creation of commodities need not lead to alienation and can, indeed, be highly satisfying: one pours one's subjectivity into an object and one can even gain enjoyment from the fact that another in turn gains enjoyment from our craft. In capitalism, the worker is exploited insofar as he does not work to create a product that he then sells to a real person; instead, the proletariat works in order to live, in order to obtain the very means of life, which he can only achieve by selling his labor to a capitalist for a wage (as if his labor were itself a property that can be bought and sold). The worker is alienated from his/her product precisely because s/he no longer owns that product, which now belongs to the capitalist who has purchased the proletariat's labor-power in exchange for exclusive ownership over the proletariat's products and all profit accrued by the sale of those products."
I'm sure the workers in both these pictures gain some sort of joy from creating their brooms, but the factory workers would be considered alienated by Marx. They are easily replaced working on an assembly line, and they are most likely paid the bare minimum to get by. The Amish worker is not alienated by society as he is the only means of production and is not being exploited by a bourgeoisie class. He's probably making brooms for people in his community that he sees every day.
On the personal level I think everyone is alienated by capitalistic society at some point in their lives. For example, anyone who has worked a job they did not lik
e just so they can pay the bills has experienced exploitation to some degree. I remember working for the Knoxville Racetrack in High School at the concession stand. It was one of my first jobs, and I actually liked what I was doing. My friends and I made cooking overpriced food into a game by counting the number of mullets each night, playing cards on break, sneaking up from the kitchen to watch the races etc. I took pride in my work and it was a lot of fun, but in retrospect, we busted our asses and made the racetrack a ridiculous amount of money, yet we all walked away knowing we could be easily replaced by any other kid who needed a minimum wage job.If you don't know what a sprint car is, you should check out this website, and you'll see where I'm coming from.
2) What of the Marx readings in Tucker did you find really hit home; that is, what had a strong and significant impact on you and what parts have left you a bit fuzzy as to what was going on and what could possibly been the point? (Note: it is not impossible that the same reading may contain both of these elements!).
There are many things in the Marx reading that hit home with me. Alienation seems to be a little bit confusing still, but I think I get the basic concept. I find myself asking how someone cannot be alienated by their environment in some way. Even without money conflict exists in society. If not monetary value, wont human beings rank themselves in the same ways as animals?
The strong and dominate would prevail, and not necessarily do what is best for the masses. I guess my main question is, even if the proletariat over throw the ruling hegemonic class, then what? Also, how does the revolution start? I know that it's supposed to begin with the proletariat, but without knowledge how will the uprising begin? The bourgeoisie have access to education, and intelligence can be used to manipulate the under educated.
I'm reminded of the scene in the matrix where Neo is asked what pill to take. I think it's red for actual reality or blue to continue living in the Matrix. If given the choice, would the American public want to wake up from their false consciousness and fight for equality, or would they rather just continue living in the current state? Where's the revolution? What will it take?
