"Contexual Information in the Social Studies" according to the oh so intelectual Josh Marks and Andy Snyder

One of the questions that fascinated me, that I didn't mind learning a little more about and which I pleasingly got correct, was question 8:
When some aspect of your life or situation that was yours, in which you participated out of Joy, becomes not yours- becomes something foreign to you - you experience;
a. alienation

I initially wondered why this question was on our diagnostic test of basic facts that we were expected to know. Are Marks and Snyder telling us we should recognize when we are being alienated. Or is alienation a far more reoccurring part of history then I realized?

Then I thought it was an odd definition since I saw alienation as being an ambiguous concept with elusive meanings.

When I typed in alienation into the google search engine, of course the first link that popped up was wikipedia who defines alienation as "The legal transfer of title of ownership to another party." Sounds about right. And then it clicked how much alienation had existed in the past, including by our very own country.

Arthur Miller once said "without alienation, there can be no politics."

Eugene Tonesco one said "There is no religion in which everyday life is not considered a prison; there is no philosophy or ideology that does not think that we live in alienation."


My favorite link introduced me to Marx's theory of alienation. Another wikipedia site said that the theory as expressed in the writings and manuscripts or Karl Marx's, refers to the separation of things that naturally belong together, or to put antagonism between things that are properly in harmony.

He believed that alienation is a systematic result of capitalism. This also confused me. The United states is a capitalist country and has been since the start. But we are guilty for Alienating the Native Americans out of their land to make way for a Christian based society far different then the way of life they had carried out. We turned America into something one group of people wanted instead of letting it become what it may have been destined to me. We interfered with what was already working with something that still has countless issues today.

Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach, a German philosopher and anthropologist argues that the idea of God has alienated the characteristics of the human being. What a wild thought, something that sparks a lot of second guessing on my own belief's and why I act a certain way and have the morals that I do. Like we discuss in Mr. Manley's class referring to Banach's lecture, people act a certain way to please god and in order to reserve a spot in heaven. But had it not been for God, would people act differently? Does God own us more then we own ourselves? Is it the power we think God posses over us that limits us to the natural wonders of the world we don't justify as good or pure?

One other link was one of an "Alienation Test" which I figure are for those who feel out of place in society and are unable to figure out where they fit in. This made me wonder if people alienate other people, or if they purposely alienate themselves? We all have the option of giving into the conformity of fashion trends and digital fads, but are we somewhat alienating ourselves by choosing not to conform? The questions on the test seem like ones a therapist would ask of a suicidal patient
The test:
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/alientest.html


When something becomes foreign to us, we are experiencing alienation. Huh.