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Description of  Theories of Alienation: From Rousseau to the Present (Marx and Marxisms)

1032761318 pdf Theories of alienation had a long history, burgeoned since the 1960s, yet almost disappeared in recent decades but in his book, Christoph Henning brings these theories back on the agenda, to better account for contemporary social pathologies. Feelings of estrangement, of not feeling at home in the world, in ones own body or surroundings, are widespread in contemporary societies. They go hand in hand with loneliness, with a burnout, with depression or with anger and hatred. But where do they come from, what do they signify? Henning tracks theories of alienation from three different traditions: first, a conservative approach from Rousseau to Hartmut Rosa explains alienation with change and is based on nostalgia second, a liberal approach from Simmel to Rahel Jaeggi relies on individual autonomy and explains it as a loss of control and third, an Aristotelian approach from Humboldt to Marx or British idealism, based on theories of flourishing, relies on a perfectionist anthropology and critical social theory. In doing so, Henning vividly reconstructs these traditions with contemporary examples and excursions into the movies. Read more