Work alienation and its gravediggers: Social class, class consciousness, and activism
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Sawyer, Jeremy E.
Gampa, Anup
Abstract / Description
Work activity is central to human psychology. However, working conditions under capitalist socioeconomic relations have been posited as psychologically alienating. Given the negative impact of work alienation on well-being and mental health, we conducted two studies of the relations between social class, work conditions, and alienation. We also examined factors that might counteract alienation – class consciousness and activism. The utility of a Marxist measure of social class – based on objective work relations – was compared with that of SES and subjective class measures. Study 1 surveyed 240 U.S. adults from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk; Study 2 was a replication with 717 adults recruited via a sampling company. Across studies, alienation was predicted by perceived work exploitation, poor work relationships, and lack of self-expression, meaningfulness, self-actualization, autonomy, and intrinsic motivation at work. Only the Marxist class measure – not SES or subjective class measures – predicted alienation and alienating work conditions across studies. Working-class participants experienced more alienating work conditions and greater alienation. Alienation was correlated with class consciousness, and class consciousness was associated with activism. While SES measures have dominated the psychological study of social class, results suggest benefits to integrating Marxist measures and conceptions of social class.
Keyword(s)
work alienation social class class consciousness activism Marxist theory Marxism self-determination theory labor socioeconomic status alienación laboral clase social conciencia de clase activismo teoría marxista marxismo teoría de la autodeterminación trabajo nivel socioeconómico alienação do trabalho classe social consciência de classe ativismo teoria marxista marxismo teoria da autodeterminação trabalho status socioeconômicoPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2020-02-28
Journal title
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
Volume
8
Issue
1
Page numbers
198–219
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Sawyer, J. E., & Gampa, A. (2020). Work alienation and its gravediggers: Social class, class consciousness, and activism. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 8(1), 198-219. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v8i1.1132
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jspp.v8i1.1132.pdfAdobe PDF - 890.61KBMD5: 73a0746b7195e8dd280052698188d85d
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There are no other versions of this object.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Sawyer, Jeremy E.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Gampa, Anup
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2022-04-14T11:23:29Z
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Made available on2022-04-14T11:23:29Z
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Date of first publication2020-02-28
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Abstract / DescriptionWork activity is central to human psychology. However, working conditions under capitalist socioeconomic relations have been posited as psychologically alienating. Given the negative impact of work alienation on well-being and mental health, we conducted two studies of the relations between social class, work conditions, and alienation. We also examined factors that might counteract alienation – class consciousness and activism. The utility of a Marxist measure of social class – based on objective work relations – was compared with that of SES and subjective class measures. Study 1 surveyed 240 U.S. adults from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk; Study 2 was a replication with 717 adults recruited via a sampling company. Across studies, alienation was predicted by perceived work exploitation, poor work relationships, and lack of self-expression, meaningfulness, self-actualization, autonomy, and intrinsic motivation at work. Only the Marxist class measure – not SES or subjective class measures – predicted alienation and alienating work conditions across studies. Working-class participants experienced more alienating work conditions and greater alienation. Alienation was correlated with class consciousness, and class consciousness was associated with activism. While SES measures have dominated the psychological study of social class, results suggest benefits to integrating Marxist measures and conceptions of social class.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationSawyer, J. E., & Gampa, A. (2020). Work alienation and its gravediggers: Social class, class consciousness, and activism. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 8(1), 198-219. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v8i1.1132en_US
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ISSN2195-3325
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/5613
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.6217
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v8i1.1132
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Is related tohttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.2744
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Keyword(s)work alienationen_US
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Keyword(s)social classen_US
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Keyword(s)class consciousnessen_US
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Keyword(s)activismen_US
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Keyword(s)Marxist theoryen_US
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Keyword(s)Marxismen_US
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Keyword(s)self-determination theoryen_US
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Keyword(s)laboren_US
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Keyword(s)socioeconomic statusen_US
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Keyword(s)alienación laborales_ES
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Keyword(s)clase sociales_ES
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Keyword(s)conciencia de clasees_ES
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Keyword(s)activismoes_ES
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Keyword(s)teoría marxistaes_ES
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Keyword(s)marxismoes_ES
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Keyword(s)teoría de la autodeterminaciónes_ES
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Keyword(s)trabajoes_ES
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Keyword(s)nivel socioeconómicoes_ES
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Keyword(s)alienação do trabalhopt-PT
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Keyword(s)classe socialpt-PT
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Keyword(s)consciência de classept-PT
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Keyword(s)ativismopt-PT
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Keyword(s)teoria marxistapt-PT
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Keyword(s)marxismopt-PT
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Keyword(s)teoria da autodeterminaçãopt-PT
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Keyword(s)trabalhopt-PT
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Keyword(s)status socioeconômicopt-PT
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleWork alienation and its gravediggers: Social class, class consciousness, and activismen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue1
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Journal titleJournal of Social and Political Psychology
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Page numbers198–219
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Volume8
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Visible tag(s)Version of Recorden_US