(iPoster) Loneliness or Alienation? What Political Theory Can Take from Arendt and Marx

• In Event: Poster Sessions: Foundations of Political Theory II & Autocratic Politics and Democracy
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Foundations of Political Theory II

Abstract

The current rise of extremist political movements and coinciding erosion of democratic values and institutions have often been explained by the prevalence of loneliness in society. Hannah Arendt’s work is useful for discussing mass loneliness and its relationship to politics, more specifically ideological thinking and totalitarianism. However, Arendt’s discussion of loneliness is brief and seems to be outdone by her discussion of “world alienation” in The Human Condition. Given she adopts the language of alienation in the same work she deeply engages with the thought of Karl Marx, it is worth examining how their accounts of alienation compare. The main aim of this paper is to put Arendt and Marx in conversation in order to build a more robust conception of loneliness. Arendt’s discussion of loneliness is incredibly brief in relative terms, and it has an internal and private character which means it is not always clear how to bridge the gap between loneliness and mass loneliness. Additionally, loneliness’s relationship to alienation is not clear, conceptually speaking. Are they the same thing? Is loneliness a particular kind of alienation? Does world alienation necessitate mass loneliness? For political theory to satisfactorily address the current moment, such questions need answers.

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