The working class had to sell their services to the capitalists for low wages. With mechanization came mass unemployment, which allowed for strong competition among workers for jobs in factories and the like. There was also a need for workers to do different types of work and to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible. This required specialization. Work was divided with a system in which each man did the work he was best suited for in order to make a profit for the owners. Marx called it the division of labor. The division of labor and the specialization it entailed made each individual dependent on the work of everyone else. At the same time, this increased division among the working class as people began to see things in different ways and value different things. This division represents another of the key elements of modern society according to Marx, namely alienation. According to Marx, competition between workers alienated them from each other. They were also alienated from the means of production because they had no say in their operation. Workers often remained in this state of oppression, a state in which happiness or even fulfillment was difficult to find. After all the inequality in the labor market, (stratified) workers were even alienated from enjoying life or finding personal fulfillment in it! Once again for Marx the division of labor and the conflict between capitalists and workers were crucial problems