Describe Marx’s 4 psychological states of alienation

This paper is a personal reflection that applies social theory to your own life.

These are some guidelines for your term paper. This paper is 25% of your grade so please

reflect on it for a while. You cannot do it the last minute…

Your term paper should be a reflection and application paper, i.e it should use the

examples from the articles and /or videos we had for Durkheim, Marx and Weber on how to apply a social theorist to a contemporary problem.

The paper should be around 4-6 double spaced pages and is due on DECEMBER 8..

Do Not worry about the length of the paper. Quality is what matters.

YOU CAN CHOOSE ANY ONE OF THESE FOUR TOPICS

The paper is a general reflection of your life at Penn State through the eyes of

Durkheim or Marx OR Weber . This is a personal reflection so you can use the “I”

when writing. You can also incorporate any other relevant materials from class or

outside class to make your points. You can also use the book LOST

CONNECTIONS AS an illustration.

1) GENERAL TOPIC:ANOMIE OR ALIENATION or DISENCHANTMENT AT

PSU:

Choose ONE THEORIST to explain the increasing levels of depression, apathy, sense

of worthlessness, anxiety, and total disinterest in learning that we observe around us or

inside us. The pandemic observations can be also used as they have exacerbated the

social conditions that our theorists spoke about. .

TOPIC ONE: DURKHEIM AND ANOMIE:

a) Describe poetically and sociologically the state of affairs around us: what will

drive Durkheim to speak of anomie. Use this first part of the paper to reflect on

what you see around you.( digital technology, relations between people, incivility,

hookup culture , narcissism, pandemic changes, etc)

b) What would Durkheim say are the causes of such anomie? Use Durkheim’s

analysis of modern capitalist society and apply that to Penn State. This part is

hard and requires attentive reading as well as a creative use of class material.

(ground your second part in theory).

c) c)What are the consequences of the problem at hand (whether suicide, depression,

loneliness, loss of solidarity, etc)? Here, some book or articles that deal with the

consequences can be used (Please cite whatever reference you are using). What

are the implications for you personally?

d) Conclusion and evaluation: Is that analysis adequate? What additional points

could be made?

TOPIC TWO: MARX AND ALIENATION IN EDUCATION:

a) Describe poetically and sociologically the state of affairs around us : what will

drive Marx to speak about alienation in education ( here education is our labor).

What in our school behavior would lead him to see symptoms of alienation.

Reflect on what you see around you.( psychological separation from studies,

efficiency, lack of interest, debt, two jobs, etc)

b) Describe Marx’s 4 psychological states of alienation and apply these to life at PSU.

What would Marx say are the economic causes of this alienation? ( PSU as

corporate structure, class relations, contract students/PSU, private property in

education, student debt). How the pandemic affected these conditions more

specifically?

d) What are the ramification of such alienation? How is alienation masked by false

consciousness? Why are students so apathetic today?

e) Evaluate Marx’s analysis? Is it helpful in any way?

TOPIC THREE/ FOUR: WEBER AND DISENCHANTMENT ( 2 possibilities):

Here you will start with the same first section ( poetic description of disenchantment

around us) but can branch out in two ways different ways ( choose ONE)

3)) PSU’s bureaucracy : what are the characteristics of PSU as a bureauracy, why is

Penn state an efficient organization ( examples) ? What are the consequences of such as

bureaucracy on students and learning? Has the pandemic and zoom learning made life

even more bureaucratic? Please use examples that you personally have experienced.

Show all kinds of examples of disenchantment around us.

4) Mcdonaldization of education: Apply the five principles of Ritzer’s text to your

education. Use as many examples as possible from your experience here at PSU. How

has the pandemic times made our education more McDonaldized?

Show signs of disenchantment around us.

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