Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts

Major

Philosophy

Date of Defense

4-20-2026

Graduate Advisor

Dr. Jill Delston

Committee

Dr. Eric Wiland

Dr. Annie Corbitt

Abstract

Capitalism reorients human priorities by necessitating socio-economic competition and tying the preeminent priority of survival to the rate at which one accumulates material resources. The orientation of wage as the only means to survival has replaced the need for the working class to form tribes, build inter-group solidarity, and engage in their communities, resulting in a less fulfilling society. Marx is traditionally conceptualized as a political or economic thinker, and while much of his political and economic thought will be useful supplementary material, in Section I, I will be viewing Marx through a more interpersonal lens. The section will take Marx’s early work on alienation theory, from Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, and apply it to the modern context to help recognize patterns of alienation and individualism, perpetuated by neoliberal economic competition, that degrade socio-political communities. Using this methodology, I will argue that competition promotes individualism as a mechanism that alienates one from their neighbor in multiple ways, which, in turn, discourages social interaction, cooperation, and community building. In Section II, I square Marx’s alienation theory with Laclau and Mouffe’s theory of hegemony as well as Laclau’s rhetorical social theory, forwarding ‘alienation’ as a signifier capable of articulating the competitive antagonism perpetuated by neoliberal hegemony for the purpose of guising exploitation. The articulation of this competitive antagonism within the chain of equivalence will help to cultivate a set of hegemonic articulations representative of Laclau and Mouffe's radical democratic pluralism, resulting in communal civic values that emphasize belonging and preclude alienation.

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