In private companies workers are taking early retirement as the work is exhausting and repetitive. From Marx's perspective what does this situation reflect?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Alienation
Option (1) Scientific Management — Incorrect. Scientific Management, or Taylorism, is F.W. Taylor’s system of organising work to raise output: work is broken into its smallest repetitive elements and workers are timed to meet daily targets. It is a method used by managers, not Marx’s term for what such work does to the worker.
Option (2) Labour Power — Incorrect. Under capitalism, workers must sell their labour power in the market to earn a wage. Labour power is what the worker sells; it does not describe a worker who is worn out by repetitive work and leaves it early.
Option (3) Alienation — Correct. Industrial work involves a detailed division of labour; people produce only one small part of a product and the work is often repetitive and exhausting. Marx called this situation alienation: people do not enjoy work and see it as something they have to do only in order to survive. At Maruti Udyog, most workers are exhausted by the age of 40 and take voluntary retirement, the very case the question describes.
Option (4) Commodification — Incorrect. Commodification occurs when things that were earlier not traded in the market become commodities, as when labour or skills are bought and sold. It is about turning something into a thing for sale, not about how the worker feels about the work.
NCERT (2025-26): “…Industrialisation involves a detailed division of labour. People often do not see the end result of their work because they are producing only one small part of a product. The work is often repetitive and exhausting. Yet, even this is better than having no work at all, i.e., being unemployed. Marx called this situation alienation, when people do not enjoy work, and see it as something they have to do only in order to survive, and even that survival depends on whether the technology has room for any human labour.” “The more mechanised an industry gets, the fewer people are employed, but they too have to work at the pace of the machine. In Maruti Udyog Ltd., two cars roll off the assembly line every minute. Workers get only 45 minutes rest in the entire day - two tea breaks of 7.5 minutes each and one lunch break of half an hour. Most of them are exhausted by the age of 40 and take voluntary retirement.…” |