The principal politico-economic causes of alienation in Kenya between 1945-1970

Abstract

Although alienation is essentially psychological, its causes lie if. the material and social infrastracture of our societies. But no serious attempt has been taken to analyse the material and social roots of alienation in Kenya. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the principal politico-economic causes of alienation in Kenya from 1945 to 1970, although these time-boundaries are not strictly adhered to. The analysis starts with a redefinition of alienation to fit the Kenyan situation by first examining theories of earlier writers. Here alienation is defined as a condition of oppression, exploitation, powerlessness and, to some extent, uninvolvement. The main findings are that, in Kenya, the principal politico-economic causes of alienation are colonial values, the removal 0: Africans from their lands, the existence of private capital, and post-independence contradictions