RECOVERING MARX’S THEORY OF ALIENATION: THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS FROM A CASE STUDY WITH COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS IN SCARBOROUGH, ONTARIO

Abstract

The expansive literature onalienationdemonstrates how various treatmentsemphasize different parts of human estrangement. This recovery focuses ondemonstrating how Marx’s theory of alienation can prove fruitful inunderstanding social movement activity and promoting social justice. At thecentre of collective action is a hope and vision for an alternative future, animagination of communities based on mutual relianceand a strategy for de-alienation. In this paper, I begin with a review ofMarx’s theory with anemphasis on a philosophy of internal relations, followed by an application to arecently completed case study with housing activists in Scarborough, Ontario. Byposing questions for further development, I conclude that social alienation andresponses to it can be developed further when seenas a learning process; that is,to understand the learning processes of one’s own estrangement as central totaking positive steps to overcome alienation.