MARX, DURKHEIM, AND ALIENATION: TOWARD A HEURISTIC TYPOLOGY

AN ATTEMPT IS MADE TO CONSOLIDATE INTO 1 TYPOLOGY THE VARIOUS MEANINGS ATTRIBUTED TO THE CONCEPT ALIENATION, PARTICULARLY AS FOUND IN SOCIOLOGICAL LITERATURE. EMPIRICAL & SPECULATIVE APPROACHES WHICH HAVE APPEARED SINCE M. SEEMAN ARE CONSIDERED. A SCHEMATIC PARADIGM IS CONSTRUCTED ALONG THE SOCIOLOGIES OF THE 2 MAJOR THEORISTS CONCERNED WITH THIS PHENOMENON & SEEKS TO IDENTIFY, WITHIN THE INTERACTION EFFECTS OF 2 MAJOR DIMENSIONS, THE PARTICULAR FORMS NOTED BY SUBSEQUENT THEORISTS. THE RESULTING TYPOLOGY RETAINS THE MAXIMUM THEORETICAL WEIGHTS OF THESE THEORISTS CONSISTENT WITH THEIR INTEGRATION INTO A UNIFIED PARADIGM. IN CONSTRUCTING THE PARADIGM A LOGICAL & EXISTENTIAL CONSISTENCY IS SOUGHT. PARTICULAR ELLIPSES IN BOTH MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES MAY BE TENTATIVELY RESOLVED. THE APPROACH IS PRAGMATIC IN THAT IT CONSIDERS FOR RETENTION THOSE OPERATIONALIZATIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATED TO BE OF UTILITY IN RESEARCH. IT IS, HOWEVER, LESS INTERESTED IN MEASUREMENT THAN IN MEANINGS. BY CONSIDERING HOW DURKHEIMIAN NORMLESSNESS & MARXIAN POWERLESSNESS INTERACT IN SEMANTIC SPACE, IT SEEKS TO ISOLATE THOSE COMPONENTS OF MEANING THAT ARE COMMON PROPERTIES OF BOTH MAJOR DIMENSIONS, & WHICH ARE STRUCTURED BY OUR UNDERSTANDING. 2 FIGURES. AA.