How did factory work contribute to alienation in Marx's view?

In Marx’s view, factory work is a primary driver of alienation because it fundamentally strips labor of its creative and humanizing potential. Under capitalist factory conditions, workers experience estrangement in four distinct ways:

• The Product: Workers do not own the goods they produce; instead, these products are expropriated by capitalists to be used against the worker, often leaving the producer unable to afford what they have created.123
• The Process: The division of labour and specialization inherent in factory systems reduce the worker to a mere "appendage of the machine." Because workers have little control over the production process, their labor becomes a compelled, repetitive activity rather than a spontaneous or creative one.13
• Human Fulfillment: Because the work is not an expression of human capacity, workers are denied the satisfaction of using their unique intellectual and artistic abilities. Instead of finding fulfillment, the worker devalues themselves as their labor becomes a commodity.123
• Social Relations: Workers become alienated from other human beings, viewing them as rivals competing for jobs and wages rather than as fellow members of a community.3

Ultimately, Marx argued that this system transforms the worker’s life into a means of individual existence that is external and alien to them.2