Problem
Alienation
Experimental visualization of narrower problems
Other Names:
Alienation of human existenceImbalance between collective existence and personal life
Social alienation
Nature:
The term alienation has been used by philosophers, psychologists and sociologists to refer to a very wide range of psycho-social disorders including: loss of self, anxiety, anomie, despair, depersonalization, rootlessness, apathy, social disorganization, loneliness, atomization, meaninglessness, isolation, pessimism, and the loss of beliefs or values.
Basically, alienation refers to an individual sense of estrangement from society; or to the state of isolation of those people who, because of their customs, allegiances, behaviour, race or other factors, are marked out by those with whom they mix as "different", strange and sometimes unacceptable. Thus, certain people, races, social classes or groups are alien for various reasons from the point of view of the surrounding society. The ensuing sense of estrangement or self-alienation involves the loss of a sense of identity, a feeling of powerlessness to affect social change and of depersonalization in a large and bureaucratic society.
Incidence:
Alienation has become a central notion of contemporary sociology.
Broader Problems:
ConflictUnrelatednessMisdirection of human energies and desires Narrower Problems:
DepersonalizationCultural alienationPolitical alienationAlienation from workAlienation in old agePsychological alienationSocial disaffection of the youngInadequate sense of personal identityIsolating social forms inhibiting ethical relationsIsolation of individual decision-making from context Related Problems:
AntipathyLonelinessLack of satisfactionExcessive intensification of parent-child relationshipReversion Aggravates:
RebellionHooliganismSocial apathyHarmful thoughtIrresponsibilityMental sufferingUnderground pressMotivational deathSocial fragmentationTerrorismChronic illness Strategies:
Relieving social alienation Organizations:
World Health Organization (WHO)World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH)International Association for Youth Mental Health (IAYMH)International Association for Women's Mental Health (IAWMH)Mental Health Social Exclusion - EuropeMental Health Europe (MHE)NGO Committee on Mental Health, New York NYWHO Regional Centre for Environmental Health Activities (CEHA)Centre for Global Mental Health (CGMH)International Center for Mental Health (ICMH)Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)Global Health Council (GHC)Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC (CSIS) References:
Novack, George and Mandel, Ernest: Marxist Theory of AlienationBier, William C: Alienation: plight of modern man ?Geyer, Felix and Schweitzer, David: Alienation: problems of meaning, theory and methodHefner, Philip and Schroeder, W Widick: Belonging and Alienation: religious foundations for the human futureKanungo, Rabindra N: Alienation: an integrative approachLudz, Peter C: Alienation as a Concept in the Social Sciences: a trend report and bibliography prepared for the International Sociological Association under the auspices of the International Committee for Social Sciences Information and DocumentationSchaff, Adam: Alienation as a Social PhenomenonGeyer, R F and Schweitzer, D R: Theories of Alienation: critical perspectives in philosophy and the social sciencesPapal Encyclical: Centesimus Annus Subject(s):
Life → Life Mankind → Human
Societal Problems → Imbalances
Society → Disadvantaged
Society → Social
Value Redistribution → Cooperative
Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Problem Type:
B: Basic universal problems Date of last update
04.10.2020 – 22:48 CEST