Abstract and Concrete Alienation – a Sketch to Bridge the Conflict between Marxist and Empirical Alienation Perspectives

There is a long-standing conflict between empirical and Marxist understandings of alienation. Empirical perspectives view alienation as an individual's psychological experience. In contrast, Marxist scholars, like Bertell Ollman, argue that alienation cannot be quantified empirically, as it is rooted in economic structures, not individual psychology. They contend that reducing alienation to personal experiences distorts its meaning and strips it of its anti-capitalist core.

Both perspectives encounter problems due to a strict separation of social structure and individual experience, resulting in an ontological dualism. Attempts to resolve this through ontological monism have also faced issues.

This paper argues that alienation can be understood as both a structural and individual experience. To avoid ontological dualism or monism, a solution is sought in Roy Bhaskar's theory of ontological stratification and Marx's concept of abstraction. Bhaskar suggests the world comprises different ontological domains, each with its causal powers and relative autonomy. Thus, the psychological and social domains are distinct yet interdependent. Alienation is in the paper similarly divided into an abstract and concrete version.

Abstract alienation, understood as a contradiction within the mode of production—where production conflicts with the premise of self-determination inherent in capitalism—is always present in capitalism. Abstract alienation is expressed in the subordination of life and production to the logic of value.

Concrete alienation is understood as the lived experience of value domination, which can differ depending on one's position in the mode of production. The capitalist's control over value production and the workers' subsumption to it create varying possibilities for self-determination, and thus for concrete alienation.

By dividing alienation into abstract and concrete levels, ontological dualism and monism can be avoided, capturing alienation's constant presence in capitalism and its empirical variations.