ABSTRACT
Alienation is rampant because people, instead of trying to be them, succumb to the demands of society and arranges their lives to meet fashion's demands. Alienation displays itself in listlessness, boredom, and disinterest in the world around us. But it also displays itself in frantic activity, in constant striving, in looking toward an imagined, hoped–for future, devaluing thereby what one has already accomplished and the life one leads. Alienation is a problem that arises in some social settings; if we can change those social settings, it can perhaps be overcome. But since alienation is a social ill connected to a particular society, one cannot escape it by making individual choices. Rousseau's view of alienation as enslavement by society suggests that the alienated have made a bad choice, and if they could only be prevailed upon to make a different choice, alienation could be overcome.
