Jerome Braun - Alienation and the Carnivalization of Society

Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought

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73 Alienation and the

Carnivalization of Society

Edited by Jerome Braun and

Lauren Langman

First published 2012

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The right of Jerome Braun and Lauren Langman to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Alienation and the carnivalization of society / edited by Jerome Braun and Lauren Langman.
p. cm. (Routledge studies in social and political thought; 73)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Alienation (Social psychology) 2. Carnivals. I. Braun, Jerome. II. Langman, Lauren, 1940
HM1131.A45 2012
302.544dc23
2011016669

ISBN: 978-0-415-88878-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-203-58479-8 (ebk)

Jerome Braun

The notion of the Carnivalization of Society has much in common with the concept of escapism as relief from the tensions associated with alienation in society. Alienation in society itself is a concept derived originally from theories of cultural evolution. Alienation as a social science concept derives from Hegel and his idealistic philosophy of the evolution of values coordinated with the evolution of culture, and in particular from Marxs materialistic adaptation of this, emphasizing the evolution of consciousness (partly philosophies of life, partly psychological states in the sense of individual character and personality) developed as the result of the evolution of social structures, which, in the Marxist version, reflects the evolution of social class systems derived from changes in the means of production. The result includes patterns of private property ownership and the power that is either granted or denied to individuals because of this. A good introduction to this whole field is Gary B. Thom, The Human Nature of Social Discontent: Alienation, Anomie, Ambivalence (Thom 1983).