Marx later transformed it into a sociological concept by applying it to the experience of work. For Marx, work was the most important human activity through which human beings expressed their individuality and creativity. The alienated worker finds work unsatisfying and unrewarding. Work has no creative value.
Alienation is, however, far more than boredom at work.
In traditional societies, it is argued, though work may have been hard and exhausting, the individual worker still had a large measure of control over his or her daily labours. In contrast, the modern industrial worker has little control over his or her work situation. Capitalism , according to Marx, inevitably produces a high level of alienation. This is because in such a society a small number of individuals own the productive forces, individual workers rarely own the tools of their trade and have little control over what they produce. Production is for an abstract market rather than for self or for a specific customer.