Alienated labor, stress, and coronary disease

The concept of alienation is used to integrate research findings on the relationship of occupational stress to coronary disease risk. The analysis takes the objective aspects of alienated labor (lack of control over the work process, loss of the product through appropriation, and competitive and fragmented work relations) and the subjective dimensions of alienation (sense of powerlessness, dissatisfaction, and frustration) as categories within which certain occupational factors in coronary disease can be subsumed. These categories are placed within a broader social analysis and critique, and it is suggested that chronic stress and alienation may be reduced as workers gain increased control over the process and product of their labor.