ALIENATION

A separation of individuals from control and direction of their social life. The term was used widely in German philosophy in the 18th and 19th centuries, but it has become important for sociology through the ideas of Karl Marx (1818-1883). Marx claimed that human alienation was created by a socially structured separation between humans and their work. This separation reached its highest intensity in capitalist society where the great mass of the population depended for subsistence on working under the direction of others. In the capitalist workplace, individuals were separated from ownership, control and direction of their work and were unable to achieve personal creative expression. The competitive nature of the workplace also alienated, or separated, workers from each other.

Books on Alienation is Sociology

Erik Allardt: Types of Protest and Alienation, in A.W. Finifter (ed), Alienation and the Social System. New York: John Wiley, 1972

Ernest Becker: Mill’s Social Psychology and the Great Historical Convergence on the Problem of Alienation, in I.L. Horowitz (ed), The New Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964

Daniel Bell: The Rediscovery of Alienation, The Journal of Philosophy, vol 24, 1959

Robert Blauner: Alienation and Freedom -The Factory Worker and His Industry. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1964

D. Dean: Meaning and Measurement of Alienation, American Sociological Review, vol 26, October 1961, pp 753-758

Dimitrina Dimitrova: Work, Commitment and Alienation, International Social Science Journal, Vol 46, No. 2, June 1994, pp 201-211

Lewis Feuer: What is Alienation? The Career of a Concept, New Politics, Spring, 1962. Also in . Stein and A Vidich (eds), Sociology on Trial. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1963

Ada W. Finifter (ed): Alienation and the Social System. New York: John Wiley, 1972

Erich Fromm: Marx’s Alienation, in D. Wrong and H.L. Gracey (eds), Readings in Introductory Sociology. London: Macmillan, 1972

R.F. Geyer and D.R. Schweitzer (eds): Theories of Alienation. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1976

Murray Greene: Alienation within a Problematic of Substance and Subject, Social Research, vol 33, no. 3, Autumn, 1966

Cindy Griffin: Rhetoricising Alienation: Mary Wollstonecraft and the Rhetorical Construction of Women’s Oppression, Quarterly Journal of Speech, vol 80, No. 3, August 1994, pp 293-312

Walter Heinz: Changes in the Methodology of Alienation Research, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol 11, 1991

John Horton: The Dehumanisation of Anomie and Alienation -A Problem in the Ideology of Sociology, British Journal of Sociology, vol 15, no. 4, December 1964

Joachim Israel: Alienation from Marx to Modern Sociology. New York: Allyn and Bacon Inc., 1971

Philip Kain: Marx, Housework and Alienation, Hypatia, vol 8, No. 1, Winter 1993, pp 121-144

Kenneth Keniston: The Varieties of Alienation -An Attempt at Definition, in A.W. Finifter (ed), Alienation and the Social System. New York: John Wiley, 1972

Alan Klein: Man Makes Himself -Alienation and Self-Objectification Bodybuilding, Play and Culture, vol 5, No. 4, November 1992

I.S. Kon: The Concept of Alienation in Modern Sociology, Social Research, vol 34, no. 3, 1967

Lauren Langman: Alienation and Everyday Life -Goffman Meets Marx at the Shopping Mall, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol 11, l991,pp 107-124

G. Lichtheim: Alienation, in International Encyclopedia of Sociology. New York: Macmillan, 1968

Stephen Lukes: Alienation and Anomie, in P. Laslett and W. Runciman (eds), Philosophy, Politics and Society. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1967. Also in A.W. Finifter (ed), Alienation and the Social System. New York: John Wiley, 1972

Karl Marx: The Notion of Alienation, in L. Coser and B. Rosenberg (eds), Sociological Theory -A Book of Readings. New York: Macmillan, 1970

M. Meidan: Alienated Labour and Free Activity in Marx’s Thought, Political Science, Vol 41, No. 1, July 1989, pp 59-73

E.H. Mizruchi: Alienation and Anomie -Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives, in I.L. Horowitz (ed), The New Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964

Maurice Natanson: Alienation and Social Role, Social Research, vol 33, no. 3, Autumn 1966

G. Nettler: A Measure of Alienation, American Sociological Review, vol 22, December 1957, pp 670-677

Andrew Oldenquist: Social Identities and Alienation, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol l l, 1991, pp 53-60

B. Ollman: Alienation: Marx’s Conception of Man in Capitalist Society. London: Cambridge University Press, 1971

G.M. Platt and F. Weinstein: Alienation and the Problem of Social Action, in E.A. Tiryakian (ed), The Phenomenon of Sociology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1971

Richard Schacht: Alienation. London: George, Allen and Unwin, 1971

Marvin B. Scott: The Social Sources of Alienation, in I.L. Horowitz (ed), The New Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964

Melvin Seeman: On The Meaning of Alienation, American Sociological Review, vol 24, 1959, pp 783-791

Georg Simmel: Bridge and Door, Theory, Culture and Society, vol 11, No. 1, February 1994, pp 5-10

Martin Tolich: Alienating and Liberating Emotions at Work -Supermarket Clerks’ Performance of Customer Service, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, vol 22, No. 3, October 1993, pp 361-381

J. Torrance: Estrangement, Alienation and Exploitation -A Sociological Approach to Historical Materialism. London: Macmillan, 1977

L. Walliman: Estrangement. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1981