ABSTRACT
The origin of sociology is conventionally traced to the French social thinker Auguste Comte. Marx's work also eschewed the social-scientific goal of objectivity or value-neutrality. Throughout his long career, Marx blended scholarly rigor with political advocacy, and fused analysis and critique of the prevailing socioeconomic order. Under capitalism, the labor process systematically and insidiously denies these potentials and deforms human beings. The alienation of labor under capitalism takes four interrelated forms. Marx recognized the revolutionary power of capitalism to develop the forces of production, but he was highly critical of the price workers paid for such advances. Capitalism inevitably creates increasingly exploitative and antagonistic relations between a wealthy minority and a vast majority. Traditional intellectuals portray themselves as free-floating and detached from social groups, whereas they help construct the hegemonic beliefs that serve dominant powers.
