Alienation, ideology and emancipation. Marx and the epistemic dimension of injustice

Based on Hegel and Rousseau, Marx defends the idea that the disintegrating and alienating effects of modernity are not inherent to sociality as such, but belong to a particular way of conceiving the social world. Like Hegel, Marx reserves the term bürgerliche Gesellschaft to refer to an incomplete way of understanding human relationships and the individual. This can only be overcome by an emancipatory praxis that resolves the contradictions resulting from the unfulfilled promises of modern institutions, which distort the understanding of the free individuals and limit the possibilities of their realization. On the basis of these considerations and referring to the early work of Marx, in this article I will develop, firstly, the link between alienation and the emergence of civil society in Marx. Secondly, also in reference to civil society, I will analyze the meaning that the concept of exclusion acquires in Marx and Hegel. This will allow me to explain to what extent freedom can be understood as emancipation with respect to the material conditions that foster alienation. Finally, I will briefly refer to the role of social movements today on the background of an understanding of the epistemic injustice associated with the Marxian concepts of alienation and ideology.