Alienation Motifs in Contemporary Theorizing: The Hidden Continuity of the Classic Themes (1983)

This analysis is not another lament about the unclarity of the concept of alienation, nor a proposal for new conceptual distinctions. Noting the rediscovery of alienation in the 1950s, and its political-practical and intellectual-analytical prominence in the 1960s, the question is raised: Is the idea of alienation now (like “cognitive dissonance” and “authoritarianism” in psychology) an unfashionable has-been whose analytical utility has been found wanting? On the contrary, an argument is developed for the view that contemporary theorizing finds the classical dimensions (if not the name) of alienation essential in both micro- and macroanalyses. The documentation of this argument involves examples from widely varying perspectives (e.g., Marxists; learning theorists; symbolic interactionists), dealing with widely varying domains of experience (e.g., health, work, and collective behavior), employing the several varieties of alienation (powerlessness, meaninglessness, sense of social isolation vs. community, etc.). The significance of this continued prominence of alienation (or alienation-like) constructs, in both psychology and sociology, is assessed.