Abstract: The subject of this research is the review of philosophical approaches towards analyzing the processes of alienation in Western European and Russian philosophy, since the formation of the philosophy of Modern Age to the present day. The object of this research is the analysis of articulation of the problem of alienation and its essential characteristics in the concepts of certain representatives of the philosophical thought. The goal is to establish correlation between the process of alienation and contradictions of the object. Special attention is given to the social aspect of this problem, since the escalating disturbances in the sociopolitical life manifest through the processes of alienation. The authors explore the views of the philosophers of Modern Age, who explained the nature of alienation in the light of sociopolitical sphere of being, dialectical-materialistic theory of alienation of K. Marx and F. Engels, idealistic tradition represented by G. Hegel and J. Fichte. Among the representatives of the philosophy of the XX century, emphasis is placed on the views upon the problem of alienation in the philosophy of existentialism, neo-Marxism, personalism, as well as in philosophy of postmodernism. The novelty of this paper consist in gradual study of various interpretations of alienation in the development of philosophical thought, and attempts of comparative analysis of perspectives on the topic. Such approach allows concluding on the need create a holistic system of interrelated forms of alienation that evolve in their content in the course of historical development of society. The author believes that alienation as the main problem of social and spiritual sphere of human existence. In social theory, the problem is alienation is one of the key factors in comprehension of the mechanism of social development.