In his 1985 Presidential Address to Yale University, Kai Erickson addresses the concepts of work and alienation as they relate to theory and practical experiences. He begins by examining the views of Karl Marx on the nature of human alienation, later determining that the two chief causes to alienation in the work place are the subdivision of labor into specialties, and the limited control individual workers have over their own work. Erickson continues by offering his own thoughts about alienation in the increasingly automated workplace of today. He argues that the effects of automation are spread unevenly, and that it is difficult to determine if such a process restricts the range of a worker’s skill and autonomy, or frees him from the old tyrannies of work. The address closes with notes on how to determine if one is experiencing alienation.
