Alienation of Self in Labor

Long have philosophers taken great time to talk about the alienation of the laborer in their work, in their place of chosen labor. Long have we talked about an individual becoming, through the advancement of technology, merely a cog in the wheel. That over time the individual becomes alienated from what they are doing, what their labor is being put into. These great works often are directed toward the laborer that is employed in a profession that is of ones own choosing. A profession in which the workers skill is the labor. What is little talked about is the alienation of a worker who find employment outside the skill set that is held. Why have these people not been addressed? The answer is complicated and rooted in the history and changing face of labor.

In the earliest days of the realization of alienation most people, it would seem, found their labor being put toward those things that they had skill in. Be it factory work, analyst, or shop keeper. The job that you worked in was very likely the field that you skill was set in. If you worked as a shoer of horses, it is very likely that you trained to do that very thing. Much was the case for any number of occupations. Yet, that is no longer the case for the laborer today. In today's market, at least with the United States, many people find themselves applying their labor toward tasks that have nothing to do with their skill set, or their interests.

The result of having labor divided from ones skills and interests is the alienation of the individual from him or her self from the outset. It is our skills and interests that define who we are. It is those that define our goals as well. When we are forced to sell our labor toward a goal that does not match our own, a conflict develops. This conflict is internal, it wears away at an individuals self worth. It wears away at our self identity as one is no longer able to express the interests and skills that define us.

When an individual no longer feels as if they can express their true selves through the application of their labor, the individual begins to lose themselves. This loss is not physical, it is the the loss of ones soul, that which is our self identity. It is also the loss of ones feeling of success, that which is our self worth.

The effect of these losses, while not always visible right away, on the individual, are massive. When one losses their sense of worth and identity, no long can the individual be happy with life. The sense of fulfillment that one gets from directing ones labor to a task of enjoyment is lost, and thus all enjoyment is lost in the application of labor. This loss of enjoyment then manifests itself outside of the place of labor.

To overcome the loss of worth and identity, individuals often attempt to direct time away from work toward endeavors that are interest and skill focused. By doing so they are able to regain a portion of what they have lost. This kind of activity can help greatly with the depression that comes with this kind of deep alienation. Never the less, the relief is fleeting as one is again forced back into the alienating system that constructs the loss. Then, with the reentering into the system, the loss is compounded each day as the cycle of alienation and minimal relief moves ever forward. Thusly, the individual is left but a shell, with all sense of worth and identity stripped away by the endless degrading cycle. Over time the ever present weight of alienation makes the attempt of regaining ones self seem pointless and futile.

As said, this cycle has become ever more present in the modern world of work. As the young leave the safety of home and university, they find themselves in a world, a market, that forces them into labor that is not of their choosing. Combined with the growing self awareness of youth of their own wants a desires outside of work, it can only be a matter of time before this generation will begin to feel a weight of alienation that has never been felt before. This weight will come from the market as it attempts to break the will of the people.

Surely this is not a the world that we have hope for. Surely we must want more for our live and the lives of those that come after us. Yet, the system that we apply our labor to is one that will only continue to burden those that are applying their skill to labor as well as those that do not. Such is the plight of Capitalism.