Paste your essay in here…ALIENATION
Alienation of work is a process that has been in constant evolution from Marx to the present day and is still a subject of constant analysis. As German philosopher Karl Marx explains, alienation of work is understood as a process of separating the act of work from its executor. Marx states that the worker loses the sense of unity with the activity he carries out, ones labour is objectified and treated as a commodity that the worker is forced to sell.
In Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 Marx states that alienation from the creation of work means that the broadly understood creation of human work (not only material products, but also institutions, products of scientific, spiritual and social activity), becomes external to him, escapes his control, and even turns against him. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
Philosopher points out three ways one's life can be alienated: political alienation – where one loses oneself out of fear of political power, religious alienation – where we get bogged down from the starch of the gods, and economic alienation. According to him, the third is the most important.
The idea of alienation was also presented by neo-Marxist Erich Fromm, who defines modern capitalist society as ‘insane’, because through the implementation of modernity, natural aspirations of man change from "to be" to "to have". Herbert Marcuse (20th century) describes alienation the appearance of a one-dimensional man, who limits his whole life to work and consumption. (Erich Fromm– quote)
Precariat as a new social class
Globalisation and transformations of the contemporary market in the sphere of work have changed the traditional model of employment, introducing "uncertainty" related to taking up and maintaining employment and other phenomena to which the emergence of a new social group called "precariat" may be related.
The concept of precariat first appeared in social sciences in the 1980s, Pierre Bourdieu [1998] undertook to consider precariat as the common phenomenon to define the situation of temporary and seasonal workers, although it became more popular in the first decade of 21st century. It was created by combining two words precarious and proletariat (poor working class).
One of the promoters of this concept, which is increasingly appearing in public discourse, is a professor at the University of London, Guy Standing- a British economist. Precariat, for many reasons, is a group difficult to define, as Standing emphasises in his book published in 2011 entitled The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, where he puts forward a hypothesis about the need for a new, distinct, highly internally diverse socioeconomic group with a global reach, called the Precariat. The Precariat defines it as a social class whose characteristic feature is uncertainty.
This position is supported by sociologist Filip Vostal from the Czech Academy of Sciences, who refers to a state that is uncertain, safe or stable. It should be stressed, however, that the Standing does not reduce the state of "insecurity" only to poor in content, insecure and low-paid work, but also draws attention to other, equally important issues distinguishing the precariat from other social classes. In addition to the lack of certainty, stability or stability of employment and the provision of mini-protection at work (this applies to people who are temporarily unemployed, living on casual jobs, employed on short-term contracts, migrating in search of income), there is a much more important issue concerning the lack of opportunities for career development- precarious are deprived of a sense of professional identity. In his opinion, the so-called precarious work does not provide opportunities for development, because
Judith Butler argues, however, that precariousness is a timeless, fundamental and embodied feature of all living human and non-human beings. It means the fragility of life and its constant susceptibility to injury in the basic physical dimension. It can be urgent – e. g. as a result of an accident or murder – or systematic, e. g. in a situation of hunger, illness or exclusion. What is at stake for Butler is precarity, i. e. the experience of precarity resulting from the socially established – always unequal – distribution of safety. Although all of them are precarious to a similar degree, they differ significantly as far as the potential for updating this state – the precariousness is concerned. According to Butler, precariousness does not result from individual merits of the individual, but from the establishment of formal and informal institutions regulating social life, where the safety of some is achieved at the expense of others.
Standing, recognising the universal nature of scepticism, proves that in order to better understand the recent changes in society, it is necessary to look at the transformations of forms of paid work – an institution which until recently was one of the foundations of social identity and rootedness, and most people guaranteed a relatively high level of existential security.
Precarious employment is a multidimensional phenomenon which, when we look at the numerous definitions, has four basic characteristics. Firstly, the low degree of certainty of continuation of employment, whether due to the imminent expiry of the contract or to the high risk of dismissal, regardless of the form of the employment contract. Secondly, the low degree of individual and collective (e. g. through trade unions) control over the process and organisation of work. Thirdly, the low level of social security. Finally, fourthly, a low, non-salary income and inadequate income.
G. Rodgers, Precarious work in Western Europe: The state of the debate. W Precarious jobs in labour market regulation: The growth of atypical employment in Western Europe,
Guy Standing called a precariat the social group that brings together poor people, but also the impoverished and just impoverished and uncertain of their future, the indebted and vindicated, the unemployed, those employed on garbage contracts, young people after school and with no employment opportunities, and even those working but exploited (e.g. illegally, without paying overtime, in poor conditions, etc. ). And all this is happening in the developed and industrialised economies of the West. In the current crisis, many people are becoming precariat. This group includes both newcomers to the labour market, as well as employees with many years of experience and vast professional experience. There are women as well as men, immigrants and locals, who still have modest accommodation and are homeless. There is no mercy here.