POLICY RESEARCHER / STRATEGIST
Specialising in Culture Sport & The Creative Economy
/ 1982 — 2024

AVAILABLE FOR FREELANCE
PROJECTS IN SEPT 2024

info@charlesfreemanprojects.com

The Economics of Neurodiversity 4 – Karl Marx and The Alienation of Labour 

Portrait of Karl Marx - a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist and socialist revolutionary. Image generated with generative AI

Karl Marx 1818-1883, notwithstanding his role as a father of communism, is a distinguished economist, who drew heavily on the classical economics of Adam Smith and Ricardo . 

As a dyslexic and ND person, I am amazed that Marx was so perceptive in writing about not fitting in at work nearly 150 years before the term neurodiversity came into use. Indeed, Marx was writing at about the time, mass education was being established in Europe and the USA and the first cases of dyslexia were being written up . To me Marx’s description of the alienation of labour resonates quite strongly with some of the frustrations, I have felt working in large and bureaucratic organisations.  

In describing the concept of the Alienation labour Marx argued that under a Capitalist System the ownership of property and assets resulted in 4 types of alienation, which stopped workers from gaining fulfilment from their labour. 

  1. The worker did not own the product of their work. The worker is paid a wage, but the produce is owned by the employer.
  2. The worker did not have control of how they worked. They have to do what the boss says. 
  3. The workers innate nature and creativity is suppressed by the need to comply with a set process of production. In the work place the opportunity to be an individual is reduced. 
  4. The competitive labour market sets up competition between each worker and sets them against their colleagues and fellow members of their community. 

In the Marxist Context the alienation of labour forms part of Marx’s criticism of the capitalism and, the class system. It also forms a key element in his analyse of what he saw as being the fatal contradictions of capitalism, which he believed would lead to its inevitable destruction. 

 More modestly in the context of Neurodivergence, I believe that the concept of alienation provides a powerful analogy which both romanticises negative aspects of the  ND experience in the workspace, and provides an idealised vision of a world in which workers (and or ND people) are in control of  their work, proud of what they produce , fulfilled in their work life balance and feel that they are fully able to contribute to society. 

It also possibly ironically, gives a hint as to why a disproportionate number of ND people feel more comfortable freelancing or setting up their own business. Entrepreneurship provides a way in which the ND person can retain control over the things they feel passionate about and shape their own work environment. 

Marx’s writing is possibly also a reminder that it is not only ND people who feel alienated at work. To some extent all employees sacrifice individuality creativity and control of their time to earn a wage. However arguably ND people are required to make a more costly sacrifice, due to their spikey profile and the consequent additional challenges they face in fitting in to a work environment, designed to meet the needs of the business rather, than the individual. The cost of this sacrifice is frequently stress, poor mental health and a fear of the stigma associated with unemployment and underachievement, which may distance them from friends, family and community.