Post by Spaced Out Looney on May 20, 2006 8:33:03 GMT -5
OK, alienation vs anomie.
Please, feel free to expand on or correct anything that I have written here. I'm kind of doing this from memory, and this class I took was freshmen year, which is a while ago.
since this seems to be the popular way, dictionary definitions (from
ALIENATION
1 : a withdrawing or separation of a person or a person's affections from an object or position of former attachment : ESTRANGEMENT <alienation ... from the values of one's society and family -- S. L. Halleck>
2 : a conveyance of property to another
ANOMIE
social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values; also : personal unrest, alienation, and uncertainty that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals
I believe that a lot of people are familiar with Marx and the concept of alienation. Workers feeling like they are nothing more than cogs in the wheels of the machines in the factories at which they work. They work but never own the fruits of their labor. They work to continue subsisting, and they subsist to continue working. And the famous quote "religion is the opiate of the masses." Religion's purpose as keeping the people subdued and prevent them from realization that the current state of things must change.
Durkeim's background, for those who don't know it, was studying suicide rates. According to his studies, suicide rates were higher in Protestant countries than Catholic countries. He concluded that the reason why was because of the focus on ritual, values, standards, ideals, purpose that Catholicism provides. Essentially, he is arguing the opposite of Marx: society (and religion) is structured as such to provide meaning in our lives, not to make our lives devoid of it. Whereas Marx would say that in our capitalist industrial society, workers become nothing more than a cog in the wheel of the machine, Durkeim would say that in our society workers are cogs in the wheels of the machine, as opposed to nothing, no identity at all. Religion gives us purpose and meaning, rather than just placating us. Marx would say, "Revolution, yay!" while Durkeim would say that social upheaval is rather detrimental.
Naturally, this is something that philosopher/policy types have been debating and will continue to debate for many years to come. So I expect that both we and the Losties will also continue to debate over these concepts. But I wanted to explain how I don't think that Eko is totally off base here, not in this episode anyway. He just sees the situation in a different manner than Locke, and many of us. Locke has becomed disillusioned with the hatch and the button, alienated, you might say. You keep pushing the button, and for what? You have no control and very little information about the situation. Of course, you could argue that Locke is suffering from anomie ever since "Henry" revealed to him that the button was "a joke," resulting in a loss of purpose/meaning for him. Eko's take on the situation is that pushing the button gives him a sense of structure and purpose, and to a larger extent gives the group a purpose, ie maintaining the hatch. The button and the hatch has a larger purpose, in that it's a part of an experiment. That gives Eko and the Losties identity as research subjects, and therefore a place in the structure of island society. As opposed to having no identity, no purpose, no meaning, no structure. And we've seen signs of our group building up and breaking down, like it's teetering on the edge right now, so Eko kind of has a point to be concerned about that.
Please, feel free to expand on or correct anything that I have written here. I'm kind of doing this from memory, and this class I took was freshmen year, which is a while ago.
since this seems to be the popular way, dictionary definitions (from
ALIENATION
1 : a withdrawing or separation of a person or a person's affections from an object or position of former attachment : ESTRANGEMENT <alienation ... from the values of one's society and family -- S. L. Halleck>
2 : a conveyance of property to another
ANOMIE
social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values; also : personal unrest, alienation, and uncertainty that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals
I believe that a lot of people are familiar with Marx and the concept of alienation. Workers feeling like they are nothing more than cogs in the wheels of the machines in the factories at which they work. They work but never own the fruits of their labor. They work to continue subsisting, and they subsist to continue working. And the famous quote "religion is the opiate of the masses." Religion's purpose as keeping the people subdued and prevent them from realization that the current state of things must change.
Durkeim's background, for those who don't know it, was studying suicide rates. According to his studies, suicide rates were higher in Protestant countries than Catholic countries. He concluded that the reason why was because of the focus on ritual, values, standards, ideals, purpose that Catholicism provides. Essentially, he is arguing the opposite of Marx: society (and religion) is structured as such to provide meaning in our lives, not to make our lives devoid of it. Whereas Marx would say that in our capitalist industrial society, workers become nothing more than a cog in the wheel of the machine, Durkeim would say that in our society workers are cogs in the wheels of the machine, as opposed to nothing, no identity at all. Religion gives us purpose and meaning, rather than just placating us. Marx would say, "Revolution, yay!" while Durkeim would say that social upheaval is rather detrimental.
Naturally, this is something that philosopher/policy types have been debating and will continue to debate for many years to come. So I expect that both we and the Losties will also continue to debate over these concepts. But I wanted to explain how I don't think that Eko is totally off base here, not in this episode anyway. He just sees the situation in a different manner than Locke, and many of us. Locke has becomed disillusioned with the hatch and the button, alienated, you might say. You keep pushing the button, and for what? You have no control and very little information about the situation. Of course, you could argue that Locke is suffering from anomie ever since "Henry" revealed to him that the button was "a joke," resulting in a loss of purpose/meaning for him. Eko's take on the situation is that pushing the button gives him a sense of structure and purpose, and to a larger extent gives the group a purpose, ie maintaining the hatch. The button and the hatch has a larger purpose, in that it's a part of an experiment. That gives Eko and the Losties identity as research subjects, and therefore a place in the structure of island society. As opposed to having no identity, no purpose, no meaning, no structure. And we've seen signs of our group building up and breaking down, like it's teetering on the edge right now, so Eko kind of has a point to be concerned about that.