What did Karl Marx mean by the alienation of workers under capitalism?

For Karl Marx, the alienation of workers under capitalism describes a state where individuals are estranged from their own humanity and creative potential. Marx identified four primary dimensions of this estrangement:12

• The Product: Workers do not own the goods they create; instead, these products are expropriated by capitalists and often become alien, oppressive forces that dominate the worker.23
• The Process: Under factory conditions, the labor process is fragmented and repetitive, reducing the worker to a mere "appendage of the machine" with little control over their work.23
• Human Potential: Because labor is compelled rather than spontaneous or creative, workers are unable to find fulfillment or express their unique human capacities.23
• Other Humans: Workers are alienated from their peers, as the competitive nature of the labor market forces them to view other human beings as rivals for jobs and wages.2

Ultimately, Marx argued that this alienation transforms the worker into a commodity, denying them the fullness of their existence and creating a society where human relations are distorted by economic structures.13