The idea that there exists a human potential (or telos, in the language of classical philosophy) that can be either drawn out or repressed by work has its roots m Karl Marx's concept of alienation. In general terms, alienation is the result of work that prevents the full development of human potential. In such situations, humans are separated, or alienated, from their true selves (their potential). Part of Marx's critique of capitalism was based on the claim that under capitalist systems of production, workers inevitably faced a life of alien¬ation. Marx suggested that workers face several types of alienation that occur, within capitalist systems: from the products of their work, from the creative process of work itself, and from their very essence as social creatures.