The Right to Feel Alienated; R. Rubanowice

Mr. Rubanowice is Assistant Professor, special izing in modern European intellectual history, at Florida State University at Tallahassee. 670 ROBERT J. RUBANOWICE Alienation is a legitimate re sponse of an individual to insti tutions and practices which deny him the maximization of meaning in his life. To repress the right to feel alienated is to repress free dom of choice for the individual. In the face of dehumanizing pres sures and demands, the right to feel alienated may be the most important basic defense mechan ism to reaffirm one's individual humanity. Collectivist institutions alienate because they curb the latitude of the individual's freedom of choice. When one feels alienated in the face of collectivist pressures, where does the fault lie? Not in the individual, but in those very inhuman or ahuman institutions that are intervening in his life. Shakespeare wrote: "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but in ourselves." It is necessary to widen this viewpoint to enter tain a third possibility - that the fault lies in the oppressive politi1974 THE RIGHT TO FEEL ALIENATED 671 cal, economic, social, and educa tional institutions and their prac tices that surround the individual and suppress his freedom. In an age of bigness - of big govern ment, big management, big labor, big education - to stand alone and resist being gobbled up by huge institutions which feed on masses of people is a right to be cherished, not a plight to be lamented.