Marx: the spirit of deconstruction of sacralized labor since classical capitalism

Abstract

In the spirit of the sacralization of labor inherent in the market economy, Marx envisions work as a form of alienation and, consequently, dehumanization, since it turns workers into objects of the market economy itself. Reflections on alienation and self-alienation in the performance society and in the society that erodes the worker’s identity by eliminating their intelligence, decision-making capacity, and routine, reveal the difficulties, not only economic but also psychological, that arise in the current labor context. The alienation that Marx had foreseen is not only economic or anthropological, but multidimensional. Here, a sociopolitical alienation in juridical, political, and ideological terms of the superstructure is not required, since that would lead to other reflections. It is necessary to note that for technical purposes of alienation at work, the alienation of the superstructure is evident in aspects such as education.