Alienation and social criticism

Alienation is a pervasive problem in our society. In one form or another, most people struggle with it. Most discussions of the concept, whether in the Marxian tradition, or critical of it, are quite abstract. But alienation is a very complex phenomenon that takes significantly different forms in different concrete settings. Individuals trying to understand their alienation and to think about how to overcome it are ill served by such abstract discussions because the connection to their particular specific experience is often difficult to draw. This volume breaks with this tradition and considers the experience of alienation of persons in different situations. What emerges is a complex picture of different experiences, different problems, and different questions about alienation that require much further thought and study. The essays in this volume take alienation seriously as a real experience of real persons: They are written by women and men, with color and without, heterosexual as well as lesbian, young and old. They look at alienation at work, alienation of the disabled, alienation from nature, as well as alienation according to gender, race, age, and poverty. The reader of this anthology will learn to see the commonalities between different manifestations of alienation as well as their important differences and thus will gain an insight into the complexities of thinking usefully about alienation in modern society.