POLITICAL ALIENATION

- Akom Bomnuk Don

Political alienation refers to a sense of estrangement, disillusionment, or
disengagement from the political system and its institutions. It occurs when
individuals or groups feel disconnected, marginalized, or excluded from the
political process, leading to a sense of powerlessness, apathy, or distrust
towards political authorities and institutions. Political alienation can manifest in
various forms, ranging from low voter turnout and political disengagement to
protest movements and political extremism.

FACTORS
Several factors contribute to political alienation:

1. Perceived Powerlessness: Individuals may experience political

alienation when they perceive themselves as powerless to influence
political outcomes or hold political leaders accountable. This sense of
powerlessness can arise from structural inequalities, systemic barriers to
political participation, or disillusionment with the effectiveness of
democratic institutions.

2. Distrust in Institutions: Political alienation often stems from a lack of

trust or confidence in political institutions, such as government, political
parties, and elected officials. Factors such as corruption, incompetence,
and broken promises can erode trust in institutions and contribute to
feelings of alienation among the population.

3. Social Exclusion: Marginalized groups, such as ethnic minorities,

immigrants, and low-income communities, may experience political
alienation due to social exclusion and discrimination within the political
system. When these groups perceive that their voices are not heard or
represented in political decision-making processes, they may disengage
from politics altogether.

4. Media Influence: Biased or sensationalized media coverage of political

events and issues can contribute to political alienation by distorting
perceptions of reality and undermining trust in political institutions. When
media outlets prioritize sensationalism over accuracy and objectivity,
they can contribute to a sense of disillusionment and cynicism among the
public.

5. Polarization and Divisiveness: Political alienation may be exacerbated

by polarization and divisiveness within society, as individuals feel
increasingly isolated or marginalized due to their political beliefs or
identities. When political discourse becomes hostile or polarized, it can
alienate individuals who do not conform to prevailing ideological norms
or who feel excluded from mainstream political debates.

Addressing political alienation requires efforts to promote inclusivity,

transparency, and accountability within the political system. This may involve
measures such as electoral reforms to increase representation, anti-corruption
initiatives to rebuild trust in institutions, and efforts to foster dialogue and
understanding across political divides. By addressing the root causes of
political alienation and promoting greater civic engagement and participation,
societies can strengthen democratic governance and promote social cohesion.

THE EXPRESSIONS OF POLITICAL ALIENATION

Having discuss the theoretical concept of alienation in the previous sections,
let us describe alienation in relation to a citizen’s attitudes to the structures
and processes of the political system. The categories of typologies of political
alienation discussed below have been derived from the five types of alienation
identified by Melvin Seeman, an American social psychologist. According to him
there are basically five alternate meanings of alienation: meaninglessness,
normlessness, powerlessness, isolation and self-estrangement.
This sociological interpretation of alienation can also be applied to the
different ways in which alienation towards the polity or the political system are
expressed.

1. Political Powerlessness:
It may be defined as an individual’s feeling towards that he cannot
affect the actions of government, that the allocation of values for a
society which is at the heart of the political process, is not subject to his
influence.
Political decisions which determine to a great extent the conditions
under which the individual lives, may appear to be happening to
individuals who feel powerless, independent of or in spite of their own
judgement or wishes. This mode of alienation is closely related, though
inversely, to the concept of ‘political efficacy’ which is the perception
that citizens can understand and influence political affairs and change
the government. Political powerlessness is the opposite of the positive
nature of the concept of political efficacy.

2. Political meaninglessness
This sense of political meaninglessness is said to exist to the extent
that the political decisions are perceived as being unpredictable. A
perceived random pattern of decision making would, of course, present
an understanding of the political system. This mode of alienation is
distinguished from the first in that, in the case of powerlessness,
decisions may be clear and unpredictable, but simply are not subject to
the influence of the individual; in the case of meaninglessness, however,
the individual perceives no discernible pattern. This feeling is illustrated
by an individual’s inability to distinguish any meaningful political choices
and the sense that political choices are themselves meaningless,
because one cannot predict their probable outcomes, nor consequently
use them to change social conditions.

3. Political normlessness:
Following Emile Durkheim’s use of ‘anomie’, which denotes a
decentralization of social norms regulating individual’s behaviour,
‘perceived political normlessness’ is defined as the individual’s
perception that the norms of rules intended to govern political relations
have broken down, and that departures from prescribed behaviour are
common. A belief that officials violate legal procedures in dealing with
the public or in arriving at policy decisions exemplify this mode of
 alienation.

4. Political Isolation:
It refers to a rejection of political norms and goals that are widely
held and shared by other members of a society. It differs from perceived
normlessness in which there is implicit acceptance of some set of norms
from which others are perspeed to be deviating.
Political Isolation can be illustrated by a belief that voting or other
socially defined political obligations are merely conformist formalities.
This type of alienation is consistent with lane’s description of alienated
individuals feeling that ‘the rules of the game are unfair, loaded,
illegitimate; the constitution is to some extent are fraudulent.’

5. Political self-estrangement:
This variant of political alienation implies that the conditions of public
life have become so much distorted that a citizen feels self-estranged
even when he plays his role in the political process of his country. For
instance, a voter normally feels that he has become an object, or a
commodity or a tool in the hands of others. He feels self alienated and
realises that his personality has become an instrument of some alien
purpose.
One way to state such a meaning is to see alienation as the degree of
dependence of the given.. upon anticipated future rewards - something
that lies outside the activity itself. For instance, as the worker who works
merely for his salary, or the house wife who cooks simply to get it over
with, the political man also plays his part in a way that he finds his
labours not ‘self rewarding’.

CRITICAL APPRAISAL
The concept of political alienation has been criticized on these grounds:
1. It is said that though the concept of alienation hits at the character of
modern ‘civilised’ social life, it certainly fails to look to the other side of
the picture. It is true that man is so terribly caught up in the web of
modern competitive life that he has lost the real essence of his
existence. The stress on the fact of alienation should not be only on this
conflict but also on the failure overcome it.
2. Moreover the idea of political alienation has not been fully studied as yet.
It still lacks thorough clarity.

In conclusion, the concept of political alienation which has offered a

formidable challenge, should be met not by making an all-round attack on the
achievements of modern civilisation but by seeking ways and means so as to
do away with the evil by bringing aboout a better and harmonious relationship
between scientific advancement and human life.
Nonetheless, the fact remains that the concept of alienation to the study of
politics and other areas of social sciences have become a really important item
of social sciences. At the present time, in all the social sciences, the various
synonyms of alieation have a foremost place in the studies of human relations
and rightly so.