Alienation in Capitalist Society

This paper attempts to study the roots of the alienation that currently exists in society. Alienation for this paper refers to the rift that exists between humans as we currently are and the potential that we can reach. This paper will attempt to trace the roots of alienation to the origins of the capitalist mode of production. In this, it will first deal with the "transition debate" and posit an understanding of the transition as something that brought about a drastic and qualitative change in social relations and the ways in which people reproduce themselves. It will attempt to denaturalize capitalist relations in order to truly trace the origins of the logic of capital. The paper will then delve into human nature. It will put forth a notion of human nature that is social and productive in order to understand some of the ways that capitalist production relations have fettered the growth of human nature. Finally, the paper will deal with alienation. It will trace the roots of alienation in some of the foundational tenets of the capitalist mode of production and discuss ways in which this alienation manifests itself. This paper ends with noting that alienation is inherent within capitalism and that in order for humans to achieve the same potential that capitalist production also generates, capitalism itself will have to be replaced with an alternate mode of production.