Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

False consciousness is a Marxist theoretical concept referring to the circumstance, or state-of-being, in which workers hold views that are contrary to workers' objective class interests. This subjective consciousness does not arise organically from among workers, but is imposed (or foisted) upon them by the dominant ideology of the capitalist class. False consciousness and class consciousness are intimately linked. Whereas class consciousness denotes workers' awareness of their historical position and enables the transformation of society, false consciousness denotes workers' failure to recognize their position and bring about the transformation of society. Because of its elitist and arguably negative view of workers (as dupes), the concept of false consciousness often offends modern democratic sensibilities. Not only that, but with its apparent reference to objective truth, false consciousness in an era of postmodernism smacks of intellectual arrogance. Perhaps for these reasons, the concept has fallen into disuse among sociologists. It appears that the term was first coined by Friedrich Engels; there is no evidence that Karl Marx himself ever used this in his writing ( Eagleton 1991 ). The term's initial appearance in print was in a letter written by Engels to Franz Mehring in 1893: Ideology is a process accomplished by the so-called thinker consciously, it is true, but with ... log in or subscribe to read full text