DefinePK

Abstract

Alienation, although an abstruse concept, has ever been a phenomenon of central concern in the sociological analysis. Initially, in theological writings, it denoted separation from the God. The social-contract theorists considered alienation as propitious to inception of a new social order. To Hegel (1949) it was a disastrous social phenomenon while to Marx (1963) alienation was a destructive socio-psychological dilemma of the capitalist society. Durkheim (1976) and Merton (1957) termed it anomie relating it with objective social conditions. Seeman (1991) developed an analytical model for apprehension of alienation identifying six variants of the phenomenon on the basis of their genesis and consequences.