Marx's theory of alienation
![The 19th-century German intellectual Karl Marx (1818–1883) identified and described four types of Entfremdung (social alienation) that afflict the worker under capitalism.](/Images/godic/202412/18/Karl_Marx_0014545.jpg")
![](/Images/godic/202412/18/Marx_and_Engels4545.jpg")
![In the capitalist system of production, the manual labour of the employed carpenter yields him wages, not profits.](/Images/godic/202412/18/PalmercarpenterA4545.jpg")
![In the capitalist system of production, the intellectual labour of the employed engineer yields him a salary, not profits.](/Images/godic/202412/18/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-23805-1665,_Ingenieure_mit_Konstruktionsplan4545.jpg")
Karl Marx's theory of alienation describes the estrangement (Ger. Entfremdung) of people from aspects of their Gattungswesen ("species-essence") as a consequence of living in a society of stratified social classes. The alienation from the self is a consequence of being a mechanistic part of a social class, which condition estranges a person from their humanity.