Just putting this out there. Anyone agree with this list? I aimed at seven because it’s a satisfying number and has some literary precedence (“Seven Types of Ambiguity”, etc.). Are there more? What remedies would you propose?
- Social
An inability to identify with “mainstream” values and a sense of being disconnected from the broad mass of people. Possible cause: insufficient socialisation when young.
- Economic
Lack of creative or personal satisfaction in one’s working life; the oppression of needing to work for purely material reasons, absent of any moral value or purpose. Possible cause: lack of suitable employment opportunities, lack of capital (which would make self-employment an option), lack of appropriate education, training or skills.
- Cultural
Culture: the values and modes of expression that are distinctive to a group of people. Cultural alienation may occur when two or more culturally distinctive groups of people inhabit the same location, but their values and modes of expression are not commonly shared and tend to divide rather than unite them. Causes: historical conquest (English language in Wales, for example), multiculturalism etc.
4. Personal
The sense of dislocation and alienation that can follow a change of consciousness triggered by an epiphany or some other event that changes one’s view or understanding of the world, usually in the direction of disillusionment. The self feels trapped and isolated in a reality which appears to be irremediably fragmented, and which offers no obvious escape. Possible cause: a traumatic, life-changing experience – for example, death of a loved one, parental divorce, end of a relationship, loss of faith etc.
- Interpersonal
Alienation that occurs between people – individuals and/or groups. Can be one-sided or mutual. Possible causes: breach of trust (real or perceived), atavistic anxiety (engineered by a populist politician turning one part of society against another, for example).
- Intellectual
Intellectual alienation: the “two cultures” syndrome and the notion of left-brain, right- brain dichotomy. Possible causes: originating (theoretically) in the primal Neolithic alienation and exacerbated by the increasingly specialised nature of work since the industrial revolution. A contrast to the “Renaissance man” model.
- Creative
The separation of a person from the source of his/her creativity. The sources of creativity can be many, varied and complex, including local environment, traditional ideas and community values, forms of creative stimulation (books, paintings etc.), the means of creative production, personal freedom, the opportunity to engage with the creative areas of one’s consciousness (i.e. time, peace and quiet to meditate, reflect, read etc.). Possible causes: relocation, exposure to new and challenging world views/values; any breach in the sense of continuity or cohesiveness in one’s life.
Picture sources or credits: carejoy.com, Cornell Press, JTM Signs, Edvard Munch, Palgrave Macmillan, Picasso, Tommy Huynh
Cheers,
The Stranger.
