Marx’s Theory of Alienation and Its Contemporary Relevance

In Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 Karl Marx formulated his concept of
alienation of workers from their labor and its products. According to Marx, alienation is an
inherent feature of capitalism in the labor process. Today, its significance in recontinuing
discussions on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in human life stands out. In the Atlantic
article Chris Hayes illustrates how the digital ‘attention economy’ segregates people from their
cognitive tools in ‘You’re Being Alienated From Your Own Attention.’

Understanding Marx’s Alienation Theory

Four types of alienation are presented by Marx: estrangement from the product of labor,
estrangement from the process of labor, estrangement from fellow workers, and estrangement
from one’s species-being (Gattungswesen). As a result of capitalist structures, workers produce
goods that they do not own, constituting their estrangement from their own creations. Marx calls
this inversion of the control, where the products of labor are dominant over the producers (Marx,
1844).

Moreover, workers have no autonomy in the labor process. Bureaucratization, by dividing labor,
removes the creative and intellectual participation necessary for the completion of tasks that
these systems actually carry out. It is capitalism which further alienates individuals from each
other by creating a competitive environment and turning social relationships into exploitative
dynamics. Finally, workers are alienated from their species being, their ability to perform
meaningful, creative labor, since the work they do is dictated by profit motives rather than by
personal fulfillment. It is not just an economic condition as the alienation is so deep it takes away
the worker’s identity, making him nothing more than a cog in the capitalist machine.

Alienation and the Attention Economy

Chris Hayes applies Marxist alienation theory to the modern attention economy, which is the
place where human attention is commodified and extracted to profit corporations. Social media
and streaming services platforms such as manipulate user engagement, form behavioral patterns
and reshaping what people care (Hayes, 2025). Just like Marx describes the exploitation of labor,
the digital platforms commercialize attention, rendering users cognitive and emotional
subjugation.
As a result of this commodification, users lose control over their cognitive faculties, just as
laborers do in capitalist workplaces. Psychological vulnerabilities are exploited by algorithmic
systems in order to engage individuals in a way that requires users to do what is good for
corporate interests rather than their own wellbeing. For Hayes, this makes the dynamic that
cultivates self-estrangement for people trying to align the values that they hold with the choices
they make in a digitally manipulated world. The economic struggle is just one of them, it is also
incredibly psychological, as digital platforms shift an individual’s identity and patterns of
behavior that people have no idea about.

Artificial Intelligence and the Expansion of Alienation

AI intensifies alienation in both the labor economy and the attention economy. More and more,
work conditions are determined by automated systems, granting no autonomy to workers nor
diminishing existing power asymmetries. Surveillance using AI is driven by productivity, which
automatically defines job roles and assignments. The process of opaque decision making thus
deprives workers of the ability to influence their own labor environment, further estranging
workers from work (Althusser, 1962).

Attention capture is also done by AI. Algorithms that manage platform rating in YouTube,
TikTok and Instagram take autonomy from individual agency and replace it with its formulas. To
this end, Hayes maintains that attention is now an extractable resource that is managed by the AI
systems. It advances a shift in which there are no longer clear boundaries between human
creativity and algorithmic production, building from existential alienation into which people
wonder about their originality in the face of more and more automated world (Hayes, 2025). In
addition, as AI becomes more and more relied upon technology, there are ethical questions about
free will and autonomy when humans’ interactions are programmed through algorithms meant to
maximize corporate profit.

Addressing Alienation: Solutions and Challenges

Marx looked to abolition of capitalism and reworking of labor relations to overcome alienation;
Hayes calls for reforms that are closer to hand. He advises setting up alternative attention
markets and digital places that are not commercial, protecting the users from exploitative
engagement tactics. Hayes then presents regulatory interventions such as limits on the exposure
of children to attention harvesting technologies, or on platform design based on ethical
constraints.

While taking short term precautions provided by regulatory measures, it does not match Marx’s
revolutionary ideas of systemic change. The combined efforts of Marx and Hayes would yield a
holistic approach to address the root causes of alienation and to discuss both the causes of this
alienation and the manifestations of it in the digital age. If the labor and cognitive resources are
valued on their own value without taking them in terms of how much they pay off to use them,
then this approach will not only regulate exploiting but will also favour ethical alternatives.

Conclusion

Even today, Marx’s theory of alienation is highly relevant to analyzing 19th-century labor
conditions as well as the present-day digital capitalism. Marx’s insights have their duration in
Hayes’ critique of the attention economy to show how the struggle for cognitive independence is
not a modern phenomenon of traditional labor exploitation. With AI driven systems now
mediating much work and attention, it is time to look closely at how such systems are not only
alienating people but more importantly ways to start reintegrating the overlooked humanity in
such systems. To fix these problems, they must reconcile short term reforms with systemic
transformation to regain control over labor, attention and creativity. A strategy that will not only
mitigate alienation but must be future oriented, a socio-economic model which should be based
on human dignity, creativity and true autonomy.

Bibliography

Althusser, Louis. “Contradiction and Overdetermination.” 1962. Retrieved from [Link].

Hayes, Chris. “You’re Being Alienated From Your Own Attention.” The Atlantic, 2025.
Retrieved from The Atlantic.

Marx, Karl. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. Retrieved from [Link].

Marx, Karl. “Theses on Feuerbach.” 1845. Retrieved from [Link].