JohnM

Alienation is not so much the separation of person from person or group from group as a form of interaction through which a people is constrained, by the seeming necessities of the case, to act against their own good, albeit to the seeming advantage and under the hegemonic control of another people. (8)

It is important to note, however, that alienation affects not only those who are under the domination of another group – it affects just as powerfully those who are in control. Alienation, as the absence of solidarity, renders the oppressor as alienated as the oppressed. The difference between the two parties is that the dominator has the option of eliminating the cause of alienation whereas the dominated can only draw attention to the problem. If we contemplate alienation as it applies to globalization, and given the indoctrination that we have received, we may have a certain amount of empathy for the starving despite the feeling that part of their problem is their unwillingness to strive harder for betterment. How much harder it is to feel empathy for the corporation that is keeping the workers in poverty by paying survival wages! Yet, if the problem of alienation is to be resolved the solution must include an understanding of the tremendous loss suffered by any individual when an excess of individualism leads to a dissolving of the societal bonds that are natural to our species. As Sturm suggests:

Underlying the sociology of alienation is an ontology of relationality, by which I mean that each of us, even in our uniqueness, is a living distillation of generations of interaction. We are social beings whose individuality can be comprehended only contextually. (9)

Market capitalism places value only on commodities even when those commodities are people. This depersonalizing, this objectifying, is what makes it possible to exploit the poor but it is also what alienates the exploiter. As Dr. Oscar Arias, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President of Costa Rica, states, "Headway will only continue if we declare both local and international human development to be the main agenda of our political, social, and economic institutions" (Arias).
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What political and economic options do we have if we want to make real headway against alienation? The capitalist would continue on the path of globalization on the theory that trickle-down economics would eventually raise the poor to a better standard of living and thus to better education, greater political awareness, and participation in government. On the opposite extreme, the communist would radically alter the situation by eliminating the property owning classes and giving ownership of the means of production to the workers, thus granting them immediate participation in society and, theoretically, eliminating alienation. There are other solutions to the problem of alienation, but they tend to be obscure and not supported by any sizeable number, as is anarchism,² or a compromise between capitalism and communism, as is socialism.
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Capitalism is defined by the Merriam Webster Dictionary as "an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods and by prices, production, and distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market" (Merriam Webster). The argument in favor of maintaining capitalism is that, in a truly free market, capitalism will gradually increase the income of the majority of citizens, eventually putting an end to poverty and the social ills associated with it. A hoped-for side effect is an increase in democracy³ on the theory that as more people become owners, they will have a vested interest in government. According to the capitalist world-view, if problems still exist, it is because the market is not yet truly free.
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Taking Latin America and the Caribbean as examples of areas greatly in need of improvement in the realms of poverty and human rights, it is interesting to consider what the United States, as a capitalist nation, has as priorities in those areas. The Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Bureau of Inter-American Affairs reports:

According to the report, this reform has been due in large part to the market reforms initiated in the region: inflation has been curbed, markets have been opened, and privatization is a priority in countries that still have nationalized industries. .
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NAFTA, the "North American Free Trade Agreement," is a typical capitalist response to the problems in the North American region. By opening borders to the free movement of goods, the theory is that capital will also flow and the economies of the nations involved, the United States, Canada, and Mexico, will all benefit. The level of poverty in Mexico will, according to this world-view, thereby be reduced and the ills associated with the poverty, high crime rate, illness, lack of education, also be alleviated.
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Communism,⁴ on the other extreme, is "a theory of social organization advocating common ownership of means of production and a distribution of products of industry based on need" (Merriam-Webster). The response of communism to poverty and alienation is to give the control of the economy to the people responsible for production – the workers. Typically, industry is either nationalized or collectivized and committees of workers become the managers. The goods produced by industry would be geared to the needs of the people and the profits from the sale of goods would be distributed among the people according to their needs (Marx).
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The solution suggested by this author is not a political or economic solution, rather a natural law criterion by which individual economic and political systems can be assessed. As Samuel von Pufendorf, the great seventeenth century German philosopher, avers:

[It] is clear that the fundamental natural law is this: that every man must cherish and maintain sociability, so far as in him lies. From this it follows that, as he who wishes an end, wishes also the means, without which the end cannot be obtained, all things which necessarily and universally make for that sociability are understood to be ordained by natural law, and all that confuse or destroy it forbidden. (Pufendorf)

David Heise, of the Department of Sociology of Indiana University, defines solidarity, a more all-embracing term for 'sociability', as "a reciprocated sense of merged consciousness and alliance, with faith in other's [sic] commitments to shared purposes" (Heise). Neither pure capitalism with its emphasis on individualism, nor the path to communism with its emphasis on class war, encourages global solidarity and, without solidarity, alienation, by definition, exists.
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The main problem with maintaining a status quo in the belief that capitalism, and corporate globalism, will eventually lead to more freedom and greater equality is that the very basis of capitalism is the primacy of the concerns of capital. As David Ellerman states:

It is a veritable mainstay of capitalist thought (not to mention so-called "right-wing libertarianism") that the moral flaws of chattel slavery have not survived in capitalism since the workers, unlike the slaves, are free people making voluntary wage contracts. But it is only that, in the case of capitalism, the denial of natural rights is less complete so that the worker has a residual legal personality as a free "commodity owner." He is thus allowed to put his own working life to traffic. When a robber denies another person's right to make an infinite number of choices besides losing his money or his life and the denial is backed by a gun, then this is clearly robbery even though it might be said that the victim is making a "voluntary choice" between his remaining options. When the legal system itself denies the natural rights of working people in the name of the prerogatives of capital, and this denial is sanctioned by the legal violence of the state, then the theorists of 'libertarian' capitalism do not proclaim institutional robbery, but rather they celebrate the "natural liberty" of working people to choose between the remaining options of selling their labor as a commodity and being unemployed. (10-11)

If, as proposed by Noam Chomsky in considering Rousseau's contribution to political thought, the "essence of human nature is human freedom and the consciousness of this freedom" (Chomsky), then the essence of capitalism is directly in opposition to the essence of human nature. In fact, human freedom and human nature are not a concern of capitalism except in so far as they aid in the amassing of capital.
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When capitalism confronts a system, such as Cuban communism, which opposes the preeminence of corporation rights, the reaction is predictable. Tom Farer of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States wrote in 1983:

There is a consensus among scholars of a wide variety of ideological positions that, on the level of life expectancy, education, and health, Cuban achievement is considerably greater than one would expect from its levels of per capita income. A recent study of 113 Third World countries in terms of these basic indicators of popular welfare ranked Cuba first, even ahead of Taiwan – which is probably the outstanding example of growth with equity within a capitalist economic framework. (Ferrer)

That was the situation in Cuba until the fall of trade support from the Soviet Union removed any relief from the United States embargo. According to Chomsky, "These [the successes] are the crimes for which Cuba must pay dearly; the real ones are of little interest to policy-makers, except for their propaganda effect" (Chomsky). Capitalist systems are unable to tolerate the success of non-capitalist nations and will use force, where necessary, to protect what they perceive as their interests.
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A major problem with communism is the difficulty of creating a communist economy without revolution. Granted that, in most economies, ownership of the means of production is in the hands of a privileged class, convincing the owners to peacefully grant ownership and participation in industry to the workers is normally an impossible task. In the words of the Communist Manifesto:

The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. (Marx)

As Howard Zinn, professor emeritus of Boston College known for his socialist views, shows, the result of adhering to the views expressed in the Manifesto can be seen in the history of the Soviet revolution and countless other communist revolutions: millions have died so that the ruling classes could be overthrown (Zinn).
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Unfortunately, the rule of the proletariat envisioned by Marx and Engels became, in most cases, the substitution of one elite class for another. The Communist Manifesto foresees a time during which the rule of the proletariat must exist and predicts a future state when all property and all classes will be abolished. Just as the capitalist predicts a future state when all people, through the benefits of free trade and open markets, will be property owners and participants in society, communists predict that the stern rule of the proletariat and forced appropriation of property will lead to a future of plenty for all and a classless society. For economic systems that are on such theoretical poles, it is interesting that both offer unproven prospects for the future and that neither system offers any real solution to the problem of alienation that is experienced by the mass of humanity today.
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Considering the failures of the economic and political systems just discussed, it may seem impossible to devise a system that would actually promote the interests of the suffering and alienated. The problem is made more complex by the varied cultures, histories and experiences of the global community. As long as the rights of the individual or of one class are stressed there will be no solution.
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There is, however, an alternative: education furthering solidarity. At present, education in the United States is doing an excellent job of promoting market capitalism and the consumerism on which it thrives. As Lewis Lapham stated in a recent article in Harper's Magazine:

The United States is the only country in the civilized world that grants the commercial interests unfettered access to the minds of its children, and it should come as no surprise that the reading skills of American students improve during their primary-school years and then rapidly decline. . . The instruction in the uses of the Internet prepares the class for the art of shopping, not for the art of reading.

The official mourners at the bier of American public education never fail to say something sad about "abbreviated attention spans" and the "diminished capacity to think," and apparently it never occurs to them that both those habits of mind sustain the profits of the credit-card industry and the banks. (Lapham)
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If steps were taken to reduce the corporate interests and presence in the United States classrooms, and education were made an instrument of furthering thinking skills, we might see an increase in understanding of the true problems of our world today.
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Understanding alone, however, will not solve the problems. In the words of Douglas Sturm, "Understanding in the absence of compassion is not only morally irresponsible; it results, as well, in a constricted, nay, a distorted form of understanding" (Sturm). No substitute for their moral teachings was proposed when religion was removed from America's schools. In order to counteract the individualism and alienation that is fostered by the marketing of capitalism and consumerism, ethics with its inherent call to justice and compassion should be an integral part of classroom learning at all grade levels in school and in the university. Education toward the appreciation of solidarity would not only improve the lives of billions of people living in poverty overseas by changing United States foreign policy and limiting corporate greed, it could also do much to solve some of the most intransigent problems of racism and poverty experienced within the United States themselves.
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Education will improve our future, but we need justice now to serve as an example that exaggerated national security concerns and corporate interests are not going to be our defining priorities. As one example of the injustices that are perpetrated daily in the interests of national security, consider the United States involvement in Colombia. Communist guerrillas have been fighting against a right-wing government in Columbia for decades, reportedly using drug trafficking earnings to purchase military supplies. The United States Congress approved a $1.3 billion dollar package of aid to Colombia, in particular to its military, to aid in the fight against drugs and guerrillas, arguing that this aid was in our national security interests. This is the same military that, as reported in the New York Times, stood by without interfering as thirty-six civilians in one village, accused of collaboration but without proof, were shot down and killed by right wing paramilitaries (Rohter). If, instead of supporting a repressive government in Latin America, the United States government were to show solidarity with the people of Colombia, assisting them with the same amount of money in purchasing land and otherwise combating poverty, the guerillas would have far less appeal. If, instead of punishing drug dealers in other countries, the United States government were to fight the alienation that leads to involvement with drugs and the drug trade in our cities, then a solution to the drug problem might be found.⁵ Solidarity requires a commitment to justice, not self-serving action that leads to the deaths of six-year old girls and grandmothers (Rohter).
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There is no instant panacea for the problem of alienation. Patterns of oppression and self-interest have been deeply ingrained in our societies and it will take time to educate people to the benefits of compassion for the other. The political and economic systems that have been at work in our global community have shown their inability to make any real improvement in the lives of the masses of humanity. Capitalism, in the guise of globalism, continues to make great strides in objectifying human beings as consumers or wage slaves. Communism, where it persists, is struggling in an increasingly global community with corporate values.
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It is time to consider an alternative based on social justice and compassion. Think again of those children dying of malnutrition each year in numbers one hundred times greater than the numbers of people who died as a result of the bombing of Hiroshima. Just because we are tired of seeing the faces of the starving on our evening television news, and corporations will not sponsor broadcasts that don't attract large audiences, does it mean that we can afford to forget them?
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Solidarity is neither an economic nor a political system, although it does imply certain directions in both economics and politics, but rather a pattern of thought by which economic and political systems ought to be judged. Solidarity is not an ideology that can be imposed, since the imposition of ideologies is a form of oppression, but must be disseminated through education and example. Solidarity can help us diminish the alienation and suffering in the world, while at the same time ridding us of our own sense of alienation.

²Anarchism has been excluded, not because it is an invalid philosophy, but because, after years of adverse propaganda, it is not generally understood or accepted. For an interesting depiction of the reality of anarchism, read George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia (Orwell).

³The lineage of democracy is often traced back to ancient Greece. It is interesting to consider one of the foremost Greek philosophers, Plato, and his politics:

Greek democracy, as is well known, bore little resemblance to modern representative government, because it was based on the direct and personal executive and judicial control of all the citizens in the Assembly, and in the absence of a leader like Pericles Greek politics suffered from the disease of chronic revolution. Majority rule, excluding slaves and resident aliens, meant the triumph of greed and ignorance, and the war policy of men like Cleon. Is it any wonder then, that Plato, who was of noble birth, whose youth was passed in the ferment of the Peloponnesian War, and whose mentor was put to death by the friends of democracy, should have concluded that the salvation of a city can be secured only if absolute authority in religion and politics is placed in the hands of those who are by nature fitted to exercise it? (Chance)

⁴Unfortunately, in the United States there has been much confusion caused by considering democracy and communism as opposites. In fact, communism is an economic system, which tends to be accompanied by a certain political system, just as democracy is a political system, which has often been associated with a certain economic system. In practice, the political system most often linked with our present conception of communism has been dictatorial and the economic system most often linked with our present conception of democracy has been capitalism. No reasonable discussion of communism can be held as long as this limitation of the word makes it impossible to think of the economic system without thinking of the excesses of Stalinism.
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⁵The drug war is not only taking a toll on the citizens of foreign nations:

By the end of last year [1988], more than 1.8 million U.S. residents were in jail or prison. That means there were 672 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents, versus 461 such inmates per 100,000 residents in 1990. The U.S. rate of incarceration is higher than any other country, save Russia. (CNN)

The exact percentage of prisoners incarcerated for drug offenses is almost impossible to calculate since many crimes, while not directly related to drugs, are indirectly caused by the drug culture.
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Arias, Dr. Oscar. "Globalization and the Challenges of Human Security." Symposium at the University of San Diego. Sept. 25, 1998.

Baumgartner, Tom, et al. "Work, Politics, and Social Structuring Under Capitalism." Work and Power. Ed. Tom Burns, et al. London & Beverly Hills: Sage, 1979. 182.

Britannica. “Hiroshima." Britannica.com, 1999-2000. <http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/1/0,5716,41441+1+40562,00.html?query=
hiroshima>

Chance, Roger. Until Philosophers are Kings: A Study of the Political Theory of Plato and Aristotle in Relation to the Modern State. London: University of London Press, 1928.

Chomsky, Noam. The Chomsky Reader. Ed. James Peck. New York: Pantheon Press, 1987.

CNN. “Prison populations up, but rate of growth drops.” Cable News Network, August 15, 1999.
<http://cnn.net/US/9908/15/prisoners/>

Ellerman, David. "Capitalism and Workers' Self-Management." Workers' Control. Eds. Hunnius, G., et al. New York: Random House, 1973. 10 – 11.

Ferrer, Tom. "Human Rights and Human Welfare in Latin America." Daedalus. Fall, 1983.

Heise, David R. (Forthcoming) "Conditions for Empathic Solidarity." Journal of Mathematical Sociology.

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. "Manifesto of the Communist Party." Free Speech, 2000 http://www.freespeech.org/james/anarchy/manifestomarx.htm

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Eds. Mish, Frederick C. et al. Springfield: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 1994.

Patterson, Anne W. "U.S. Priorities in the Americas." U.S. Department of State Dispatch. May 1996: 254 – 257.

Pufendorf, Samuel von. De officio hominis et civis prout ipsi praescribuntur lege naturali. 1682. Trans. Frank Gardner Moore. <www.constitution.org/puf/puf-dut_103.txt>

Rohter, Larry. "Columbians Tell of Massacre, as Army Stood By." NYTimes.com 14 July 2000. <http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/americas/071400columbia-massacre.html>

Sturm, Douglas. Solidarity and Suffering: Toward a Politics of Relationality. Albany: SUNY Press, 1998.

UNICEF. “Malnutrition, the Silent Emergency.” U.S. Fund for UNICEF, 1998. <http://www.unicefusa.org/issues98/jan98/malnutrition.html>

Zinn, Howard. Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology. New York: Harper Perennial, 1990.
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Reprinted with permision.
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