Marx, Concept of Work and Occupational Therapy
By Marjorie Schliebener
"As long as man does not recognize himself as man, and therefore has not organized the world in a human way, this community appears in the form of estrangement, because its subject, man, is a being estranged from himself " (Karl Marx, Comment on James Mill, 1844)
Many valuations we found at the time of registering the concept of work throughout the timeline of our history. This mainly is effect of the diverse historical stages that influences in the meaning and construction of contents at the moment of clarifying and identifying the parts of an momentary whole, of a context in constant transformation. It is in this way that the man when transforming the reality, transforms to itself.
In the Greek age, Aristotle used to make a differentiation of role within the concept of work. He separated the servile activities of the free activities. First one corresponded to the work that was made by others. Second one corresponded to the tasks made to conserving life that would contribute to the development of community. Aristotle affirmed it was necessary that slaves existed, thus the "free men" could dedicate themselves to "really important activities".
At the medieval age, the work does not obtain a greater valuation, and it was justified as a divine curse that avoided the leisure.
Later, Luther would affirm that all the jobs deserved the same valuation, independent of their modality and their social effects.
But an interesting concept was developed regarding the work and is related
to the philosophy of occupational science, it was raised by Karl Marx. Although
his manuscripts were developed during 19th century, the roots of global
context in which Marx was, still prevails nowadays, we could talk about
the same expressed root with a modified form, the constant essence going
through made up phenomena more complexes, where certainly more elements
are shuffled on the table.
When Marx talks about work, he talks about an activity by which the man
transforms the reality to satisfy its physical and spiritual needs. It is
important to emphasize that it is a much more wide concept escapes from
the approach, exclusively economic, characterizing the man as a being determined
by the impulse for the creation -that is- to the transformation of reality.
Marx admits the work has potentials of autonomy and self-fulfillment. He refers the work is the material precondition of human existence, but from this it does not derive that the source of all wealth, all moral or all progress is the work, since this one is not the essence of the human being. Praxis (to act because the world is being constructed) and work (corresponds to a specific form of praxis) is what defines the human being and differentiates it from other animal species.
The economic production, to Marx, is not the aim itself, but the human development, so the human being dominates and controls the production and not the opposite. His clearly favorable attitude -towards the reduction of working day- and the increase of free time documents to this position rather anti-productivist1. In fact Marx defined as wealth, the free time and the self-fulfillment, not the consumption nor the accumulation. Here his strong critic to the Capitalism centered in the purely mercantile thing, the value of change, without considering the use value of the produced goods.
This way, the work would be an activity oriented to an intention, characterized by being a social and communicational self-expression, as well a practical self-expression of the human being.
As regards to the self-fulfillment, Marx postulates it implies activity and effort, and so for this reason is possible to reach it by means of work, of the free work (non-alienated) and creative. The idea this type of work exists, is to Marx, an historical possibility.
Marx defends that the subsistence does not have to be close to the labor yield: "the difference as regards to the activities, to the works, does not justify any inequality, no privilege as far as the possession and to the enjoyment" 2.
In the area of occupational science "action is the base of survival of any living creature, which acquires complexity in relation to the same complexity that the living creatures have. For this reason the man has added to the survival action the creative expression, production, celebration and the ritual of his repertoires"3.
This way the man is not a passive being but active, and work -the expression of its physical and mental capacities- where the man would be due to develop and to perfect, from this it can gather that -according to Marx- the work is not only means to the production of merchandise, but an aim itself and at the same time a way of social solidarity and self-fulfillment.
The fact that work be only a means for production and the workforce of human being a simple objectified tool, allows the existence of alienated work, and it refers that in this activity the productive subject suffers a sacking of the product of its work, its own activity, and in last term, of itself.
Is in this way the human being becomes a thing, merchandise, used by the owner of production means only as one more instrument in the goods production chain. The private property turns means and materials of production in aims in themselves to which it subordinates to the same man. The private property alienates the man because it does not treat it like aim in itself, but like simple means or instrument for production.
From this understanding we can gather the central axis of Marx’s postulates; which goes to the transformation of work without sense, alienated, of work like simple means in an enriching work, criticizing strongly the alienation that produces the capitalist society that until today continues developing.
According to the postulates of human occupation, this work "without sense", alienated, has direct implications on the biological and psychological health. Participation in meaningful occupations facilitates the sensorial, cognitive and neurological processes, simultaneously that exercise and maintain the muscle-skeletal system.
By an intrinsic capacity the human being can create, discover, participate and to feel competent in its environment, these needs emerge both from biological as social demands. This is mainly obtained thanks to the information discovery, new potentials and from the use of its abilities and capacities, fact that grants to the person a sense of control, self confidence and reaffirmation of its personal well-being.
Thus, the occupational performance needs to integrate physical, psychological and social skills and the decision and personal election fed from life experience of each individual, giving a personal sense to its performance.
And it is exactly this personal sense, which is absent within the dynamics of the alienated work.
"A meaningful occupation/labor activity -to the individual- is intimately related with subject’s motivation to develop it, the commitment with what it does, the possibility of experimentation and innovation in process, the responsibility that assumes in front of its action, the capacity of making decisions at the same time, the economic and professional repayment, the interaction with other subjects, etc. Definitely work would have to consist of the opportunity for personal and professional enrichment of the individual, in the extent in that it favors the construction new relations and knowledge, developed from the integration of the previous ones, the lived experiences, the information to which the individual has access by the own and other’s experimentation, reason why it reads, discusses and reflects "4.
Occupational Science raise that only through the accomplishment of meaningful activity and with purpose we can arrive at the highest stage of needs that is the self-fulfillment, point in which agrees with Marx, at the moment at him raise that free work (non-alienating) allows the self-fulfillment of human being.
Certainly we are in an historical where the economic system perpetuates these relations of production which they characterize the labor activity of worker. In a while where an overvaluation of work exists, and unfortunately is alienated.
While this activity not be meaningful to the human being, the health of this one is seen daily threatened and in deterioration, considering that state of health not only talks about the physical situation, but also to the psychological and the social one.
From this context the doubting within praxis of occupational science begins, and that corresponds to the occupational therapy.
What is the position of occupational therapy on the matter of this context of work?
How to surpass the contradiction that means to raise the self-fulfillment throughout the activities with meaning and purpose, being that occupational therapy participates in the insertion of people to this context of alienated work?
I think this is a necessary discussion that it must give, to carry out the overcoming to this contradiction. Starting from the base that exists a strong bidirectional interrelation between the person and the environment, not only we can stay with the characterization of closest means of the person, but it is necessary to consider its current global context and its complexity that daily influences in the individual’s business, otherwise we would be denying the first definition of human as a social being, and would leave of side the sociality that necessarily arises from the activity, not knowing its influence in the immediate context of human being.
Similarities that we found in Marx’s exposition seen previously and occupational science, are contribution to development of knowledge and praxis of occupational therapy and that makes reflect about the nature of the man and its constant dynamism with the environment, which it calls to us to deepen our vision regarding to the present situation of worker who is put under a hostile labor context that denies it as a subject, considering it like one more object within the production relations. Exactly this is what occupational science and those that daily exert its philosophy, must fight, while means the negation of the self-fulfillment possibility, to be developed frees, conscientious of itself and its surroundings (immediate and global), it mean, in subject both alienated as well as social group.
"Of everyone according to its capacity, to everyone according to its needss" (Karl Marx, Criticizes to the Program of Gotha, 1875). Marx and Engels, 1872:379
References
1. Marx and Engels, 1872:379
2. Marx and Engels, 1845:58
3. ¿Qué es la Terapia Ocupacional? [What is the Occupational Therapy]. Carmen Gloria de Las Heras, MS, OTR; based on book "Conceptual Foundations of the Occupational Therapy" from Gary Kielhofner, 1997.
4. “Ocupación alienante v/s ocupación significativa”
[Alienate Occupation v/s significant occupation]. Viviana Moldes I, García
Pinto, Ávila Álvarez.
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