Marxism and Alienation Essay PDF

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Gagne essay on cooking a meal at home and how it relates to alienation...

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Student Name (Student Number) Dr. Patricia Gagné Social Theory 19 July 2020 Assignment One

In today's world, it is hard to find the time to do everything from scratch. Clothes are purchased from online retailers after being made in factories overseas, entertainment is mass produced in Hollywood, and food is simply a way to fuel oneself for another day on planet Earth. Humanity is removed from creating the products that they engage with everyday. While this convenience leaves more time in the day, it may serve to hurt the person saving time. Marx discusses alienation as a loss of oneself due to losing touch with the way work is accomplished, and I have never felt separated from my dinner, I'm hoping that some homemade spaghetti might help me reconnect with my very soul. Alienation, in Marx's perspective, is the loss of control that a worker experiences as they give their soul to their labor. The labor seems to consume them as they have no say in the process (way a good is created) or product (object created from the process) which is made for the higher class's benefit. Marx also clarifies that this alienation is inseparable from capitalism due to labor becoming the main force in a worker's life, especially when so much of life revolves around finances. It is unfortunate, then, that when the product is no longer needed, the worker, no matter how well they contributed, is left stranded and unable to provide financially for themself. Because the worker is so removed, so alienated, from the production of the good that they depend on, they become removed from themself. Although much of the day is devoted to the

product produced from labor, there is no meaning to the process as it benefits the upper class, not the worker. The species being cannot be realized by such meaningless, dull, repetitive work when unlocking the potential requires freedom to create on one's own terms. Finally, and perhaps most tragically, a worker is alienated from humanity as they become as much of a product as what they produce- a tool to be bought and sold by different people of the upper class (Appelrouth, 41-50). While this process can be seen most easily in a factory environment, it is also applicable to the service industry. In retail position, workers are expected to produce sales above all else. The transactions that go through the system are not going to the employees, in fact most companies, such as GameStop, don't even offer bonuses for high sales. Thus, the employee is removed from the sales that they are expected to make. As time goes on, the worker will alienate themselves from the production process for sales. In my two years with GameStop, I have never been able to control what is shipped to my store in distribution. I can vividly remember opening a box of fifty unicorn toys and being expected to sell them to twenty-five year old men. I removed myself from the process of producing sales for these items because I had no control over what I was going to be shipped or when it would come in. The longer I worked retail, the more I felt myself slipping away while on the clock. I had no control, so I would remove myself and go into autopilot until my shift ended, thus resulting in alienation from my species being as I couldn't create sales or control production. Finally, I found myself losing connection with my social groups as I found myself always at work, competing for a way to move up in the company so that I had the money to afford going to functions such as concerts and vacations with other members of society.

My story about retail speaks to the lasting credence of Marx's theory of alienation. In today's America, it is much more common to work a service-industry job than it is to physically produce an object for an owner. Still, this does not prevent the process of alienation from occurring as the worker separates themself through the process of producing their given good. Marx wrote about alienation to display the condition which is "inherent in capitalism" as well as to critique on George W. F. Hegel's previous work (Appelrouth, 32; 41). His thorough explanation of the concepts which he present are in order to clearly define for readers what the working class experiences as their work becomes alienated from them. judging from Marx call later for revolution as the only way to overcome alienation, it is fair to say that he publishes this information in order to empower the working class. Seeing your experience laid out is validating, especially when the experience is echoed by others in your class. Marx is seeking to unite the working class on a common ground, in this case revolving around a shared experience of losing oneself to capitalism's goals. Throughout his work on alienation, Marx makes assumptions to further his point. Marx assumes that through capitalism the working class becomes so distanced from the upper class that they do not intermingle often, if at all. There's also the assumption that the two classes are clearly separated into owners and workers, with no in between classes. Today's society houses many people who may own a store (means of production), while still working a full-time job elsewhere making someone else money (worker). Marx also assumes that work for the worker is a very real, material object, such as building furniture. As I illustrated in the GameStop example, much of labor today is mental and revolves around interpersonal skills as opposed to physical, manual labor. It is, however, important to clarify that physical labor jobs which produce material goods haven't disappeared, but have been outsourced to different societal groups even

farther removed from the workers. These assumptions make the theories flow much easier, especially in a society which isn't intertwined with digital infrastructure. ' Recently, both in accordance with the coursework and as a kind gesture to my fiance, I cooked two dinners- one from scratch as well as one with pre prepared foods- to bring this theory into my life. I work more hours than my fiance, so she typically cooks while I do other assorted housework, so this experiment already took me out of my comfort zone. I began by researching, mainly using Pinterest as my database, to find a simple recipe that could be made from scratch. I settled on spaghetti as I could easily replicate it later on with store-prepared ingredients. I headed out to the grocery store, recipe in hand, and picked up my ingredients. For the simple meal with pre-made sauce, I picked up a box of spaghetti noodles and a jar of spaghetti sauce. The two components were on the same isle, which made shopping insanely easy. For my homemade meal, I had to peruse the grocery store. I luckily had everything I needed for the pasta dough (Donfrio and Matthews) at home, so I just needed to pick up supplies for the sauce. Walking around the store, I added half a pound of italian sausage, half a pound of ground beef, an onion, a few cans of tomato sauce, tomato paste, and basil leaves to accompany the salt, pepper, italian seasoning, parsley flakes, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, worcheshire sauce, sugar, and water I already had at home (Allen). It wasn't until a few days later, when I was off work, that I set out to cook the first, homemade meal. I knew it would be a time investment, so I had waited until I had ample free time to attempt this recipe. I live in an apartment, so my kitchen is somewhat small. There are cabinets surrounding the oven and stovetop along with marble countertops. My stovetop has a tendency to set off the fire alarm when nothing is burning, so I made sure to turn the vent fan on before adding anything to the pot. I started out with my pasta, since I needed noodles to put

sauce over. It didn't call for any obscure ingredients, so I simply brought out my flour, eggs, salt, and olive oil. I created a pile with the flour, then carved a hole into the center before adding my eggs, olive oil, and salt to the crater and slowly incorporating them all together. Once I had one dough lump as opposed to four seperate ingredients, I started to knead the pasta. I repeatedly pushed the heel of my palm into the dough despite the dry, crumbly texture. It took about fourteen minutes for me to have a redeemable dough ball -almost double the time the recipe claimed it would take. I don't own a pasta roller, so instead I manually used a rolling pin to flatten the dough to the desired thickness several times before slicing the dough into thin strands with my kitchen knife. In the end, I had what looked like off-white play dough after a toddler has gotten ahold of it. It wasn't pretty, but it was homemade pasta. I felt proud of myself, as I'd never made pasta from scratch, but also unsure since it didn't look extremely appealing. In addition, I wouldn't be able to test the noodles' taste until they had already cooked. I was a bit disheartened, but nonetheless my fiance would be home soon and I wanted to surprise her with dinner on the table, so I wrapped my pasta in saran wrap, dropped it in the fridge, and began on my sauce. Growing up, my grandfather used to make a delicious spaghetti sauce with tomatoes that he grew in his back garden. I had raved about the dish to my fiance, but sadly had never recreated it for her. Although my grandfather passed before I could ask him for the recipe, I was able to find one that the internet raved about online. This dinner meant a lot to me sentimentally, so I was determined to make this sauce taste good. I started by bringing out my largest pot and dropping in the italian sausage and ground beef. While it began to cook, I sprinkled salt and pepper on top. While the meat began to brown, I chopped the onion, cried a little due to the gas, and added the chopped onion to the pot. After a few more minutes for the onions to carmelize, I took the pot to the sink and, holding my wooden spoon to the edge of the

pot, drained some of the excess grease. Although the recipe called for all the grease to be drained, I made an executive decision to leave some in to flavor the sauce. After this, I added in my tomato sauce and paste, stirring to incorporate the meat and onion. The seasonings followed, and I felt confident enough to take a small taste. Unfortunately, the sauce didn't taste like my grandfather's sauce. In fact, it tasted a bit bland to me. Nonetheless, I put a cover on the pot and let it simmer for thirty minutes in which I cleaned up the kitchen and cleared our small dining table for two. I set a single candle in the middle and poured glasses of water for us both. When time was up, I added the basil and gave the sauce another taste. While the basil helped, it didn't redeem the sauce. Determined to wow my fiance, I went through the fridge to find what the sauce was missing. Luckily, a block of aged parmesan cheese was resting on the top shelf, ready to be grated and stirred into the sauce on the stovetop. While the cheese melted, I threw in a bit more of the italian seasoning and salt. I gave the sauce another taste and was thrilled to find that it now boasted a complex flavor profile and a depth that I wasn't expecting from the acidic tomato base. All that was left to do was boil my noodles and wait for my fiance. The noodles didn't have much left to do, they just needed to be boiled for a few minutes in a seperate saucepan until they were the right consistency. After about two minutes, the noodles were done cooking and tasted like any normal noodle. They looked a little funny, but covering them in sauce helped remove that obstacle. I plated the dish, sprinkling some parmesan and excess basil on top, and set them on the table. I waited a few more minutes sitting at the table, eagerly awaiting my fiances' arrival. I scrolled through Twitter, watching the reactions to shows I hadn't watched, until she finally walked in the door. I quickly put my phone away and greeted her at the door, as did our cat. I

gave her a kiss and gestured to the table. She smiled, returned the kiss, and we both sat down to eat. At this point, I felt accomplished. I had successfully surprised my love with a homemade meal and clean kitchen to boot. We ate the meal together while discussing current events at my job, how I made the meal, and our plans to see her parents at the end of the month. Afterwards, I felt satisfied and full of sweet sauce and starchy noodles. It was an untraditional date, but one that we both appreciated in the end. We feasted on the leftovers for days, and I began to worry about making more spaghetti a few nights later. When I brought up making spaghetti for dinner again, however, my fiance was thrilled. That night was much simpler. I opened the box of noodles and threw them into boiling water. As my fiance was home, we both watched RuPaul's Drag Race reruns while the noodles cooked. As the noodles finished cooking, I drained the water and replaced it with sauce, stirring and heating up the sauce as I went. I poured the noodles and sauce into two bowls and brought them over to the couch where we continued to watch TV. This meal was muted, both in flavor and discussion. We didn't talk nearly as much, and the food just existed instead of being a conversation point. Aside from commentary on strange runway choices, dinner was short lived. I asked if it was okay, and my fiance conceded that it was okay- just okay. I wasn't hurt, as I spent about three minutes actively cooking, but my fiance was a little sad, expecting more of the homemade spaghetti. I laughed and told her that if I could cook that quality of spaghetti so quickly, I was in the wrong field at school. These two experiences are vastly different in both emotion and workload. When I made the sauce and noodles from scratch, the control in the process connected me with my species being. I was the lord of spaghetti, if only for a moment. When the sauce wasn't to my liking, it was easy to simply add in some parmesan and seasoning to elevate the dish. While it was a very

involved process, it was one that I enjoyed as I anticipated my fiance's reaction and the dish itself. I felt very connected to the moment and mindful of the process itself. I wasn't alienated from the dish, in fact I felt very connected and prideful when I served it because of the work that I, myself, put into it. My relationship with my partner was strengthened and seen as alive and needing nurturing. When I used premade foods, however, I was very alienated from the process. I didn't really make the food, I just reheated it. My relationship simply existed and we were two people who hadn't eaten, not lovers tending to each other. My relationship had been reified, downgraded to an object. I wasn't proud of what I made, I was just okay with it. It removed me from the process of creating and my species being and instead saved me time that I could have used to work on my relationship, but instead used to go into work earlier. Creating a meal from scratch isn't easy, but the labor involved is what makes it enjoyable. The connection to my species being that I experienced enhanced my mood and left me longing to foster the relationship with my partner. While I realistically cannot create meals from scratch daily, taking the time to make my food made me appreciate the process more than the end resulteven when both were amazing. Works Cited Allen, Lauren. “Homemade Spaghetti Sauce.” Tastes Better From Scratch, 10 Aug. 2019, tastesbetterfromscratch.com/homemade-spaghetti-sauce/. Appelrouth, Scott A, and Laura Destor Edles. Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory: Text and Readings. SAGE PUBLICATIONS, 2012. Donofrio, Jeanie, and Jack Matthews. “Homemade Pasta - Recipes by Love and Lemons.” Love and Lemons, 27 Apr. 2020, www.loveandlemons.com/homemade-pasta-recipe/....