Estranged Labor Sigmund Marx Analysis

Since the earliest writings on political thought, political society’s effects on an individual 's life has been discussed. Political theorists differ in their ideas of individuals positions in society; theorist Hobbes believes that the rights of individuals are subservient to the rights of a monarch, as a opposed to the more democratic writings of Locke which focus on individual rights. Regardless, the idea of why societies have been formed has been discussed frequently. In later writings, a new trend is seen in that there is more of a focus on how the formation of society affects individual happiness or quality of life. Both Karl Marx (in “Estranged Labor”) and Sigmund Freud (in “Civilization and Its Discontents”) address the position of individual quality of life in a different context; with Marx addressing the issue from an economic perspective and Freud addressing it from a social/psychological perspective. Though examining the issue of individual quality of life in society in different ways, both Marx and Freud argue that the societal …show more content…
First, Freud believes that the ego distinguishes from the external and internal world and uses the external world as a place to understand suffering. In the mind, the ego is influenced by the external world (i.e. society) unlike the id, which is the true primal self. In addition, another element that plays a role in the function of the mind for Freud is the superego, which is the parental influences or the influences of society. He also addresses what he has heard termed the “oceanic feeling” of being a part of an institution as a longing for paternal protection. He argues that this along with the unhappiness caused by our bodily relations with other men and the external world is why we join institutions, such as political