Karl Marx's thought is wide-ranging and has had an enormous influence on philosophy and sociology. Marx is best known for his two ruthless critiques of capitalism. The first of these criticisms holds that capitalism is essentially alienating. The second of these criticisms holds that capitalism is essentially exploitative. Marx distinguishes three specific ways in which capitalism is alienating. The first is that workers are alienated from other human beings, the second is that workers are alienated from the products of their labor, the last way Marx argues is that workers are alienated from the act of labor. Although Marx's ideas may seem to represent only the working class or proletariat, they can be used as a way to represent myself as a student in a highly ostentatious high school. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The first subpoint of Marx's first critique is that workers are alienated from other human beings. Marx writes: “If the product of labor does not belong to the worker, if it opposes him as an alien power, this can only happen because it belongs to another man besides the worker. If for him the worker's activity is torment, for another it can be a delight and joy of life. Not the gods, not nature, but only man himself can be this foreign power over man." In simplified terms, as workers compete with each other for jobs, this allows the capitalist, entrepreneur, to reduce wages. This trend has created a society where our humans cannot compare themselves to each other as species members, but rather as a source of competition, which then results in a society where humans are alienated from other humans. As Marx talks about the working class in a capitalist society, this could be used as a metaphor in this essay to represent my life in high school, where I am a fuel for competition among other students. In high school, students are forced to compete with each other to have the highest 3-digit number to show off at another school to get another 3-digit number that will be used to define you for the rest of your life. Specifically, in American Heritage, this theory turned out to be true. My colleagues rated me with a number like “stupid,” “stupid” while I did an equal if not more amount of work. However, alienation in the high school environment has not been resolved. My colleagues refuse to help me with simple jobs because they are too competitive and might ruin their own chances of success. Every time I ask one of my “friends” for help the usual response is “I don't have time” or “It's too hard” but the real answer is that they don't want to see other people's success as it is. it gets hurt. This alienation in high schools has created a learning gap where the “smart” remain “smart” and the “stupid” remain “stupid” due to the lack of compassion and assistance offered by most students. The real story comes from the classes I take. I am currently taking AP courses that I neither need nor want to take to try to compete. However, as a human being, I can't handle the stress of courses, but I still have to take them. Even though these strenuous courses don't interest me, I'm still forced to compete with students. The second point of Marx's criticism is that workers are alienated from the act of labor. Marx believes that work is what makes us human as it realizes the essence of our species. Work allows human beings to live,.