Alienation

Human nature is a concept that denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or what it 'means' to be human.

The separation or estrangement of human beings from some essential aspect of their nature or from society, often resulting in feelings of powerlessness or helplessness. Today, the concept of alienation has become part of ordinary language, much used in the media.

 In the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts, Marx discusses four aspects of the alienation of labour, as it takes place in capitalist society: 

 1. Alienation from the product of labour;  2.Alienation from the activity of labour; 

3.  Alienation from one’s own specific humanity;  

 4.Alienation from others, from society.

An example of alienation is when a cheating wife is discovered by her husband, and he can no longer stand to be around her so he files for divorce. The act of transferring property or title to it to another. ... The act of alienating or the condition of being alienated; estrangement.

In a capitalist world, our means of survival is based on monetary exchange, therefore we have no other choice than to sell our labour power and consequently be bound to the demands of the capitalist.The worker "[d]oes not feel content but unhappy, does not develop freely his physical and mental energy but mortifies his body and ruins his mind. The worker therefore only feels himself outside his work, and in his work feels outside himself.

Alienation in the workplace happens when a worker can express individuality only when they are producing work. The worker is a piece of a whole, and they begin to lose their voice. They lose their independence and become just another cog in the wheel.

The alienation from the self is a consequence of being a mechanistic part of a social class, the condition of which estranges a person from their humanity.