Self-estrangement

Self-estrangement is an idea spoken about by Karl Marx in his Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 as well as in Das Kapital and it comprises a part of Marx's theory of alienation. This is where a person is first alienated from the products of labour (i.e. alienation from the things that we buy in stores or produce in factories or offices). A person might then be alienated from the process of work, which is an alienation from creativity. Following this, self-estrangement can be defined when a person may feel alienated from themselves as a result of these previous two circumstances. Additionally a person may come to feel alienated from others and society as a whole.