Ownership and Alienation in Kibbutz Factories

As well as hiring workers who are members of the kibbutz and who, therefore, are owners of the means of production, some kibbutz factories have hired workers who are not kibbutz members. Our hypotheses, drawn from the writings of Marx and others, suggest both “individual” and “contextual effects” of ownership on alienation. At the individual level, hired workers will feel more alienated than kibbutz workers. Similarly, at the contextual level, persons in factories where some workers are hired will feel more alienated than will persons in factories that do not include hired workers whether or not the persons are themselves hired workers. These hypotheses imply intervening variables such as influence by workers that are examined through a path analysis. The analysis indicates only individual effects of ownership on feeling of alienation although ownership does have a contextual effect on aspects of the participativeness of the factor.