CAPITALISM AND ALIENATION: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

The beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century led to the rise of capitalism in society. According to the linguist, political activist, and social critic, Noam Chomsky, capitalism is an economic system in which there is more emphasis on profit maximization and the concentration of wealth in private organizations, as compared to societal welfare, democracy, and public accountability.

Capitalism prioritizes corporate interests resulting in social inequality that fosters mental health problems, including alienation. Alienation is a state of estrangement from oneself, from others, from society, or from nature. It is an isolation of individuals with respect to their sense of self, their status within their socio-cultural community, and their sense of control within the world of which they are a part of. The sociologist Melvin Seeman described alienation in five dimensions - powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, isolation, and self-estrangement. According to the clinical psychologist George Albee, capitalism emphasizes individualism and consumerism, which give rise to feelings of disconnection, isolation, and alienation.

Over the years, theorists have suggested how capitalism leads to a sense of alienation in society. The earliest and perhaps the most prominent figures among them is the philosopher, sociologist, political theorist, and economist Karl Marx. Marx, in the mid-19th century, specifically in his work Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, extensively wrote about how the capitalistic system results in a sense of disconnectedness and alienation. He suggested that capitalism is exploitative and that it is rationalized and legitimized as freedom, agency, democracy, and fulfillment.

Karl Marx

According to Marx, because the workers do not own the products that they create, they are not able to get the full benefits of it. Due to this, they are unable to realize the true value of their work. Workers also have no or little say in what they are doing. They are more like machines, viewing their work as a means to an end. This leads to a lack of creativity and personal connection to their work, giving them a feeling of monotony and unfulfillment. The repetitive tasks make individuals disconnected from their own true potential and sense of self. For them, work becomes a means to survive and not something that should be enjoyed, leading to dissatisfaction.

Marx also suggested that capitalism creates a sense of competitiveness among individuals, which prevents cooperation, mutual support, and a sense of community, making individuals feel isolated and disconnected. 

On the whole, according to Marx, capitalism makes the majority of people disconnected and alienated. Individuals feel disconnected from their work, their potential and sense of self, and from each other, giving rise to a sense of alienation in society.

In the 1890s, the sociologist Emil Durkheim also theorized about alienation. Durkheim linked alienation to the concept of anomie that he introduced in 1893 in his work The Division of Labor in Society. According to Durlheim, anomie is a state of instability and disorderliness in society that occurs due to unclear norms. Such a state occurs when there is rapid change in society because of industrialization and capitalism.

Emil Durkheim

Durkheim suggested that in modern, capitalistic societies, social life becomes complex leading to the weakening of social bonds, which makes individuals feel disconnected. It becomes difficult for people to find meaning in a fragmented society. Further, the lack of social integration and social isolation develop a sense of alienation among people in society. Durkheim believed that in modern, capitalistic societies, the lack of shared norms and social bonding leads to the feeling of alienation.

In the early 1900s, the sociologist and political economist, Max Weber suggested how capitalism results in alienation, specifically in his work of 1903, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Weber suggested that capitalism promotes a bureaucratic and impersonal society that leads to a sense of disenchantment. According to Weber, the rise of rationality due to capitalism has led to society becoming efficiency-driven, replacing it with emotion-driven actions.

Max Weber

Weber used the term iron cage to describe how individuals in a capitalistic society feel trapped in a bureaucratic system, which makes them lose their personal freedom leading them to become disconnected from their purpose. The bureaucratic system, according to Weber, makes individuals feel like machines, giving rise to a sense of disconnectedness and alienation.

In a similar vein, the Marxist philosopher, literary historian, and literary critic Gyorgy Lukacs, in the early 1900s, suggested that capitalism develops a sense of alienation among people. In 1923, in his work History and Class Consciousness, Lukacs developed the concept of reification. Reification is the process by which social relationships and human activities become like commodities, under capitalism. This, further, makes individuals view their relationships as mere things, instead of dynamic social interactions.

Gyorgy Lukacs

According to Lukacs, reification causes individuals to be disconnected from their social reality and they lead their life in a passive manner, resulting them to experience a sense of alienation. Thus, Lukacs argues that alienation is directly associated with capitalism. Capitalistic societies commodify human relationships, making people feel alienated within society.

The psychoanalyst and social psychologist Erich Fromm, in his book The Sane Society, published in 1955, argues that alienation is a form of mental illness when individuals lose their sense of purpose and identity in a society that starts valuing material possessions. Fromm argued that alienation stems from giving emphasis to material success, which makes individuals feel isolated, resulting in a sense of dissatisfaction.

Erich Fromm

Fromm was highly influenced by Karl Marx and is often referred to as a Marxist psychologist. Like Marx, Fromm suggested that alienation can be viewed in relation to capitalism, and has written about it from the 1950s onwards. According to Fromm, the rise of capitalism has resulted in feelings of anxiety, isolation, and powerlessness. In capitalistic societies, individuals feel disconnected from their work, each other, and even themselves.

Fromm suggested that every individual has inherent existential needs. These needs are - relatedness (the drive for union with others or the need to form meaningful connections with others), transcendence (the urge to rise above a passive existence), rootedness (the need to develop a sense of belongingness), sense of identity (the need to develop oneself as a separate entity), and frame of orientation (the need to have coherence and meaning in life). Capitalism, according to Fromm, inhibits the fulfillment of the inherent existential needs of individuals. 

Due to capitalism, people give emphasis to consumption, material success, and conformity, which leads to a disconnection from the true self, others, and nature - all of which inhibit the fulfillment of the existential needs, and giving rise to alienation.

Erich Fromm’s theory can be seen as the culmination of the perspectives of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, and Lukacs. Fromm took instances from their sociological and philosophical perspectives and integrated them to develop his psychological perspective, resulting in a comprehensive understanding of how capitalism leads to experiencing a sense of alienation.

The theoretical perspectives of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Lukacs, and Fromm indicate how socio-economic and political structures can lead to disconnectedness among people, resulting in a sense of meaninglessness, self-estrangement, and powerlessness - aspects of alienation as described by Melvin Seeman. These perspectives have implications in contemporary times, where it has been found that loneliness is highly prevalent to the extent of being called an epidemic.

This article can also be found on the blog - Life and Psychology

THE PIONEERS OF INDUSTRIAL-ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

The American Psychological Association (APA) characterizes Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychology as the scientific study of human behavior in organizations and the workplace. It focuses on deriving principles of individual, group, and organizational behavior and applying this knowledge to the solution of problems at work.

The field of industrial-organizational psychology emerged during the applied psychology movement, which was an aspect of the school of functionalism. Functionalism opposed the idea of elementism propagated by the school of structuralism. The functionalists argued that breaking down consciousness into smaller elements leads to losing the essence of experience. 

Instead of understanding the content of consciousness, the functionalists emphasized on the functions of consciousness. They were interested in answering the question of how does consciousness help in adapting to the environment. In this way, functionalism emphasized on the utilitarian aspect of consciousness.

The philosopher and psychologist William James is regarded as the major precursor to the beginning of functionalism. James propagated the philosophy of pragmatism. Pragmatism is the doctrine that the validity of an idea is measured by its practical consequences. According to pragmatism, the worth of an idea is determined by its practical applications.

William James

The idea of pragmatism became the cornerstone of functionalism. All the later functionalists stressed on the philosophy of pragmatism, which made functionalism to be concerned with utilities of consciousness and behavior.

Due to the emphasis on the utility of consciousness and behavior, the school of functionalism became interested in understanding the applications of psychology to everyday issues. This gave rise to the applied psychology movement.

The applied psychologists took psychology from an academic and laboratory setup to real-life settings and practical issues. They took psychology towards understanding behaviors in schools, factories, advertising agencies, courthouses, and mental health centers. It is this shift in psychology that led to the emergence of industrial-organizational psychology.

The pioneering works of two psychologists, namely, Walter Dill Scott and Hugo Munsterberg, are considered to have led to the beginning of industrial-organizational psychology. 

Walter Dill Scott completed his Ph.D. under Wilhelm Wundt. His interests shifted towards applied psychology after he returned to America. Scott was intrigued by the idea of using psychology to make advertisements more effective. He became the first person to apply psychology to advertising.

Walter Dill Scott

In 1903, Scott published his book - The Theory and Practice of Advertising. This is considered to be the first book on this topic. Scott argued that advertisements should involve factors like emotions, sympathy, and sentimentality. According to him, these factors heighten suggestibility, which makes advertisements more effective. These factors began to be used widely in advertisements, and are used even today.

Scott, later, shifted his attention towards the application of psychology in personnel selection and management and became the first person to do so. In order to select the best employees, especially salespersons, business executives, and military personnel, Scott developed rating scales and group intelligence tests. He used these scales and tests to measure the characteristics of people who were already successful in these occupations. Scott believed that intelligence should be defined in practical terms like judgment, quickness, and accuracy. According to him, these are characteristics that are needed to perform well on the job.

After the First World War, Scott formed his own consulting company - Imaginatively, the Scott Company. He formed this company to provide consulting services related to personnel selection and work efficiency to corporations. In doing so, Scott became the founder of the first psychological consulting company.

Around the same time as Walter Dill Scott, the psychologist, Hugo Munsterberg made pioneering efforts in applied psychology, including industrial-organizational psychology. Like Scott, Munsterberg completed his Ph. D. under Wilhelm Wundt. Later, William James recruited Munsterberg to be the director of the Harvard Psychology Laboratory. 

After spending some time there, his interests began to shift towards the practical applications of psychological principles. He strongly propagated the idea of psychology being applied to understanding real-life issues. In this regard, Munsterberg worked extensively in the areas of mental illness, legal matters, and the workplace.

Hugo Munsterberg

Munsterberg began his work related to industrial psychology in his article published in 1909, called Psychology and the Market. This article is about the application of psychology to vocational guidance, advertising, personnel management, employee motivation, and job performance.

In 1912, Munsterberg published the book Vocation and Learning and in 1913, he published the book Industrial Efficiency. These two books are often considered the beginning of what later became known as industrial psychology. In these books, Munsterberg wrote about personnel selection, work efficiency, marketing, and advertising.

Musterberg suggested that to make personnel selection better the skills for performing a task should be defined, and then the person’s ability to perform that task be determined. Munsterberg also suggested that the mental and emotional abilities of workers should be matched with their positions, to increase job efficiency, productivity, and satisfaction. For this, he suggested the use of proper psychological techniques that include mental tests and job simulations. Apart from this, Munsterberg also emphasized the role of individual differences in personnel and selection and job assignments.

The contributions of Walter Dill Scott and Hugo Munsterberg gave emphasis on the applications of psychology to organizations and the workplace. It drew the attention of psychologists to how psychology can be used to study behavior in organizations. It broadened the scope of psychology.

Along with personnel selection, work efficiency, and advertising, which were the major contributions of Scott and Munsterberg, psychologists began to study more complex aspects of organizations such as the social-psychological work climate, employee attitudes, communication patterns, organizational structure, power and politics in organizations, etc.

Realizing the significance of psychology in organizations, the APA, in 1945, founded its Division 14, which was called the Industrial and Business Psychology Division. In 1962, Division 14 of APA was renamed from the Industrial and Business Psychology Division to the Industrial Psychology Division. In 1973, this was renamed to the Division of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. In 1982, Division 14 of APA was again renamed as the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. It promotes the science, practice, and teaching of industrial-organizational psychology.