The Marxian Mythology of “Alienation”

Abstract

In Karl Marx’s theory, capitalist society is necessarily characterised by alienated relations, which make a genuine human life impossible for the majority of society. Therefore, it – even in its democratic, welfare-state form – appears as the reign of darkness that should be overthrown. A reasonable alternative to this “mythology of alienation” is a dynamic, democratic version of bourgeois society that works toward promoting general material, cultural and moral prosperity and may gradually approach the ideal society as a regulatory and ideal end, in which members of society can realize their multifaceted development and self-actualisation. This alternative, which can be characterized as the Lassallean one, requires, as a first step, the revival of the idea of the social market economy, which is particularly timely in the light of far-right tendencies characterising advanced democratic societies of our day.