Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. In sociology and critical social theory, alienation refers to an individual''s estrangement from traditional community and others in general. It is considered by many that the atomism of modern society means that individuals have shallower relations with other people than they would normally. This, it is argued, leads to difficulties in understanding and adapting to each other''s uniqueness (see normlessness). It is also sometimes referred to as commodification, emphasizing the compatibility of capitalism with alienation (a common theme of the early work of Karl Marx; see Marx''s theory of alienation).