In 1844 Karl Marx articulated his theory of alienation in his economical and philosophical manuscripts. Back then, most workers were "blue-collar" factory workers. Nowadays, while there are still factory workers, a great percentage of people work in "white-collar" jobs fulfilling administrative or managerial functions in offices. The aim of this essay is to investigate whether white-collar workers are less alienated than blue-collar workers.
First, I want to point out that humans have needs. Second, I present the four types of alienation that arise, according to Marx, in a capitalist system when humans work on satisfying their needs. Third, I analyse to what extent white-collar workers suffer from these types of alienation.