Alienation in Economic Manuscripts and Kafka's The Metamorphosis

This essay delves into the concept of alienation as articulated by Karl Marx, particularly in his work 'Estranged Labour' within the Philosophical and Economic Manuscripts. It explores Marx's theory of how the capitalist system leads to the estrangement of workers from their labor, the products of their labor, themselves, and each other. The essay then examines Franz Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis' through the lens of Marx's concept of alienation. It analyzes the protagonist, Gregor Samsa's, transformation and subsequent experiences as a reflection of alienation, focusing on his loss of self, economic dependence, and dehumanization within his family and society. The analysis draws on secondary academic sources to support the arguments and provide a comprehensive understanding of the themes of alienation, labor, and societal structures in both Marx's theory and Kafka's literary work. The essay highlights the parallels between Marx's philosophical arguments and Kafka's fictional narrative, demonstrating how alienation manifests in different forms and contexts.

Running head: CONCEPT OF ALIENATION
Concept of alienation
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CONCEPT OF ALIENATION
Introduction
The survival of the human beings within the society is dependent on the fact that they are
able to afford the basic means of subsistence. Food, clothing, water and shelter forms the basis of
such means of subsistence as they are vital to ensure this desired condition (Marx 2015). In this
respect, people are self-motivated to work as it is through the means of such employment
opportunities that the individuals of the society are able to afford the requisite things. However,
it is this aspect of employment which leads to the issue of alienation and frustration among the
workers (Schmitt 2018). The purpose of this paper is to understand the concept of alienation
which has been advocated by Karl Marx in his work titled “Estranged Labour”. This has further
been looked through the lens of the writings of Franz Kafka.
Concept of alienation as defined by Marx
The theory of alienation as espoused by Karl Marx talks about the issue of estrangement
of the individuals of the society, Marx was of the idea that this alienation arises as a result of the
people living within stratified form of social classes (Christ 2015). The alienation of the
individuals is considered to be the direct consequence of the mechanistic aspect of the social
class, which leads to the estrangement of the individuals from their spirit of humanity.
Karl Marx wrote about ‘Estranged Labour’ in his Philosophical and Economic
Manuscripts which was published in the year of 1844 (Jossa 2014). In this writing, he opined
that the human civilization has proceeded from the field of political economy and the laws and
languages if this has been widely accepted by the individuals of the society. The political
economy has laid down the importance of private property, the need for separation of labor, the
importance of wages, capital and profits and the consequent division of labor which arises as a

2CONCEPT OF ALIENATION
result of competition (Tucker 2017). The basis of such a spirit of political economy shows that
the workers of the society has sunken to the level of a commodity in the market, whose identity
is considered to be the worst of all. This wretched condition of the worker is seen to be inversely
related to the aspect of magnitude and frequency of his or her production. In other words, the
more an individual manages to produce in their work place, the less deplorable their condition is
(Raekstad 2018). The need to produce at a significantly high rate is dependent on the issue of
competition and accumulation of capital. An important consequence of this is the rise of the
monopolistic tendencies in the society. The people who are able to accumulate more wealth as a
result of higher level of production, are able to accumulate more capital and hence, the repetition
of the cycle. Marx was of the opinion that the wealth of the society rests in the hands of such a
small percentage of people in the society (Comninel 2019). As a result of this, they have the
power and authority to exercise significant control over the other members of the society.
However, in this context, it needs to be noted that within such a capitalist form of society,
the individuals essentially loses their ability and will to determine the kind of life the want to
lead. They are derived of their right to think and conceive for themselves, and instead are found
to be more driven by their need to fulfill their materialistic needs in life (Shantz, Alfes and Truss
2014). Marx stated that although a working individual is considered to be a self-realized and
autonomous human being of the society, the economic entity of such workers are found to be
directed to the achievement of their goals of materialism.
Summary of Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”
Franz Kafka is considered to be one of the best writers of the twentieth century. He wrote
books which were seemingly fictional in nature, but all of his stories had a deeper significant
meaning, which aimed to understand the deeper implications of the society (Henson 2015). His

3CONCEPT OF ALIENATION
works are seen to be a fusion of the elements of fantastic with that of realism. The protagonists
are seen to face certain surrealistic or bizarre predicaments and socio-bureaucratic powers, all of
which can be interpreted along the lines of alienation, absurdity, guilt and existential anxiety.
One of Kafka’s well known work was that of “The Metamorphosis”. This story talked
about a character named Gregor Samsa who worked as a cloth merchant and a travelling
salesman (Corngold 2018). He was quite dedicated to his work and never missed a single day.
However, in the story, he mentioned that he found his work to be extremely exhausting and
tiring. His boss was dominating, however, he had to work in order to pay off the debts that were
owed by his father. One morning, he work up to find himself metamorphosed as a bug. His
transformation greatly hampered his work life as he could not go in to his office looking like a
“monstrous vermin” (Kafka 2014). As a consequence of this, Samsa was no longer the
breadwinner of the family and his family had to start looking for alternatives in order to sustain
themselves. Towards the end of the story, it can be seen that his family members were so upset
and frustrated about the inability of Samsa to earn any income and being a burden on the family,
that he was compelled to kill himself through starvation (Kafka 2014).
Reflection of alienation in Franz Kafka’s writings
The analysis of this story can be done through the lens of economic. Within “The
Mesomorphosis” it can be seen that Gregor Samsa was a hard working individual whose only
identity to his family was that of the sole bread winner for the family. He was reduced to that
individual of the family whose only importance lied in his economic sphere of activity. In this
respect, it can be seen that Samsa faced the issue of alienation as advocated by that of Karl Marx.
Samsa has lost the ability to live his life on his own terms and to think for himself. He was only
made to work for attaining a higher standard of living.

4CONCEPT OF ALIENATION
According to the concept of alienation as stated by Karl Marx, it can be seen that the
within the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, the theory of estrangement is related
to the theory of the self (Jackson 2014). The individuals are found to be alienated from their own
humanistic self as a result of which they feel alienated from the society. This idea of alienation
finds its basis on the issue of the supernatural as stated by Ludwig Feuerbach whereby he stated
that it is possible for an individual to remain in touch with his or her humane side only when they
make certain philosophical considerations in their life (Forst 2017).
In this context, it can be seen that Samsa did not have any such philosophical
consideration sin his life when he was working as a cloth merchant. He used to work as a
machine in his office, travelling for his own economic purposes and for the sustenance of his
family. His family members had got used to this fact as a result of which, when he was
incapacitated to work any longer, they all turned bitter and started to see him as a ‘burden’ on the
family. From this it can be concluded that Samsa held the position of simply a bread winner. His
individualistic identity as a person of the society was not recognized and his critical thinking
ability was not encouraged (Shah 2015). When Samsa turned in to a bug, he had the time to
reflect on the kind of life he had led for so long. He realized the despotic attitude of his boss. It
was this thought process which gave rise to the feeling of alienation and frustration within him.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be observed that the issue of alienation emerged as a result of the
field of political economy. The need for the accumulation of the capital wealth of the society
through the instrument of competition, led the people of the society to be in want of employment.
They were desirous to enjoy a higher standard of living which could only be guaranteed as a
result of the financial resources which were gained from the higher levels of production.

5CONCEPT OF ALIENATION
However, this led to the rise of the issue of being a mechanistic individual. In other words, the
people of the society start to place more importance in their work life rather than enjoying their
philosophical presence in the community. The issue of alienation is seen to affect most of the
people of the contemporary world order. The capitalist notion of work space has increased to a
considerable degree where much importance and focus is paid to the issue of materialistic life.
As a result of this, people are losing touch with their humane feelings and emotions.

6CONCEPT OF ALIENATION
References:
Christ, O., 2015. THE CONCEPT OF ALIENATION IN THE EARLY WORKS OF
KARLMARX. European Scientific Journal, 11(7).
Comninel, G.C., 2019. Alienation and Emancipation in the Work of Karl Marx. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Corngold, S., 2018. Franz Kafka: The Necessity of Form. Cornell University Press.
Forst, R., 2017. Noumenal alienation: Rousseau, Kant and Marx on the dialectics of self-
determination. Kantian Review, 22(4), pp.523-551.
Henson, G., 2015. The Metamorphosis. World Literature Today, 89(1), p.66.
Jackson, L., 2014. The Dematerialisation of Karl Marx: Literature and Marxist Theory.
Routledge.
Jossa, B., 2014. Alienation and the self-managed firm system. Review of Radical Political
Economics, 46(1), pp.5-14.
Kafka, F., 2014. Metamorphosis: The original story by Franz Kafka as well as important
analysis. BoD–Books on Demand.
Marx, K., 2015. Alienated labour. In Working in America (pp. 21-28). Routledge.
Raekstad, P., 2018. Human development and alienation in the thought of Karl Marx. European
Journal of Political Theory, 17(3), pp.300-323.
Schmitt, R., 2018. Alienation and freedom. Routledge.
Shah, M.I., 2015. Marx’s Concept of Alienation and Its Impacts on Human Life’.

7CONCEPT OF ALIENATION
Shantz, A., Alfes, K. and Truss, C., 2014. Alienation from work: Marxist ideologies and twenty-
first-century practice. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(18),
pp.2529-2550.
Tucker, R.C., 2017. Philosophy and myth in Karl Marx. Routledge.