 A range of complex empirical and quasi-empirical issues also look to be woven into Marx’s views about the historical extent of alienation. Consider the various claims about the historical location and comparative intensity of alienation that can be found in his writings (and in certain secondary interpretations of those writings). These include: first, that certain systematic forms of alienation—including alienation in work—are not a universal feature of human society (not least, they will not be a feature of a future communist order); second, that at least some systematic forms of alienation—presumably including the alienation that Marx identifies as embodied in religious belief —are widespread in pre-capitalist societies; and third, that systematic forms of alienation are greater in contemporary capitalist societies than in pre-capitalist societies. There seems no good textual or theoretical reason to lumber Marx with the view that less systematic forms of alienation—such as the hypothetical estrangement of Gillian from her sister Hanna (which arose from sibling rivalry, stubbornness, and a chance misunderstanding at a time of family crisis)—could never exist under communism.