SOC227H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Richard Sennett
Document Summary
Chapter 8: the meaning and experience of work. Alienation: human condition resulting from absence of fulfilling work. Alienate: act of separation, or transfer of something to new owner. Marx talks about alienation in terms of effects of capitalist production relations on working class. Products didn"t belong to those who produced them (alienation from the product: decisions about what to produce and about sale of finished products not made by workers and profits that were made were the owners to keep. Alienation from activity of work: transfer of control over labour process for workers to capitalists or managers, didn"t have chance to decide how work should be done. Alienation from other workers around them: because capitalist employment relationships involve exchange of labour for a wage, work was transformed from a creative and collective activity to a monetary activity, work itself became a commodity.
