21654 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Planned Economy, Market System, Economic Calculation Problem
Economies: Free Market, Command and Mixed
Marx’s Theory of Alienation
•Alienation of the worker from their product: the worker contributes to the production of the good
or service but the profit is instead paid to the capitalist classes who own the means of production.
•Alienation of the worker from the act of production: the combination of taxation and wage
compulsion results in coerced or forced labour, removing the worker’s freedom and
consciousness from their labour.
•Alienation of the worker from their species-essence: any ideas or values of intrinsic human
mentality are removed by the objectivity of their task.
•Alienation of the worker from other workers: social conflict is promoted as the competition of a
capitalist economy pity workers against each other.
Which is most true?
a)!The most important consideration in applying the lessons of the movie Avatar to the business
context is awareness of the potential for free market capitalism to work as an inherently exploitative
economic system that alienates workers, indigenous populations, the environment and general
society from themselves and each other, to benefit wealthy business owners.
b) !The most important consideration in applying the lessons of the movie Avatar to the
organisational context is awareness that free market capitalism (and therefore private business)
does not necessarily generate universal prosperity but often acts to increase the divide between
the rich and the poor. "
c) !The most important consideration in applying the lessons of the movie Avatar to the
organisational context is the insight that a communist command economy (with no private business
activity) is a more rational, fair and sustainable economic system. "
d) !The most important consideration in applying the lessons of the movie Avatar to the
organisational context is awareness that a communist economy (with no private business activity)
is not subject to the inherent greed, selfishness and chaotic arbitrariness of the free market
capitalist system. "
The most correct option is a), describing the inherent shortcomings of capitalist economics,
focusing on the alienation of workers and general society, while other options surround irrelevant
concepts such as wealth inequality and glorified communism. Alternately, option a) outlines the film
and article’s relevance to Marx’s theories of alienation, benefitting the owners of the means of
production at the expense of the workers. As well as relating directly to the business context,
option a) provides insight into the environmental and indigenous issues that exist as the
fundamental thematic concerns of the film.
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