class consciousness
Proletarian self-recognition
Class consciousness is awareness of one's position within a social or economic hierarchy, particularly as a member of a working or laboring class whose interests may conflict with those of owners or employers.
The term comes from Marxist theory, where it describes workers recognizing their shared exploitation and collective power.
Someone with class consciousness sees social arrangements not as natural or inevitable but as systems that benefit some groups at the expense of others.
Growing up poor gave her a strong sense of class consciousness.
Laborers lacking capital ownership
- bourgeoisieCapitalist ownership class
- means of productionTools and facilities for manufacturing
- exploitationSelfish use of others
- surplus valueProduction minus wages paid
alienation · ideology · superstructure · base · Marx · Engels · Das Kapital · dialectics
Division into distinct levels
- wealth gapEconomic inequality measure
- privilegeExclusive right or benefit
- elitismPreference for privileged rule
- underclassLowest socioeconomic group
caste · social mobility · disparity · oligarchy · plutocracy · gentrification · redlining · exclusion
Shared sense of us
- labor movementOrganized effort for worker rights
- mutual aidCooperative community support
- organized laborWorkers acting collectively
- picket lineProtesting workers' boundary
rank and file · shop floor · comradeship · worker solidarity · trade unionism · industrial action · collective bargaining · blue collar
Shift toward extreme ideology
- enlightenmentProfound spiritual awakening
- realizationGrasping what's true
- recognitionPerceiving something as known
- wokePast tense of rising from sleep
disillusionment · empowerment · agitation · education · propaganda · organizing · praxis · social critique
proletariat
Laborers lacking capital ownership
- bourgeoisieCapitalist ownership class
- means of productionTools and facilities for manufacturing
- exploitationSelfish use of others
surplus value · alienation · ideology · superstructure · base · Marx · Engels · Das Kapital · dialectics · communism
stratification
Division into distinct levels
- wealth gapEconomic inequality measure
- privilegeExclusive right or benefit
- elitismPreference for privileged rule
underclass · caste · social mobility · disparity · oligarchy · plutocracy · gentrification · redlining · exclusion · discrimination
collective identity
Shared sense of us
- labor movementOrganized effort for worker rights
- mutual aidCooperative community support
- organized laborWorkers acting collectively
picket line · rank and file · shop floor · comradeship · worker solidarity · trade unionism · industrial action · collective bargaining · blue collar · working poor
radicalization
Shift toward extreme ideology
- enlightenmentProfound spiritual awakening
- realizationGrasping what's true
- recognitionPerceiving something as known
woke · disillusionment · empowerment · agitation · education · propaganda · organizing · praxis · social critique
- social classstratum, bourgeoisie, proletariat, underclass, elite
- social classesnobles, aristocrats, underclass, peasants, elite
- communismMarx, Marxism, Leninism, Lenin, proletariat
- socialismMarxism, communism, proletariat, bourgeoisie, communal ownership
- class struggleproletariat, bourgeoisie, proletarian, Marxism, capitalist
- collectivismcollectivism, commune, collective, hivemind, herd mentality
class consciousnessrugged individualism
Philosophy of personal independence
self-interest · individualism · careerism · every man for himself
class consciousnessfalse consciousness
Internalized ideology against self-interest
political apathy · depoliticization · naivety · disengagement
class consciousnessnationalism
Devotion to one's country
sectarianism · strikebreaking · divide and conquer · corporatism
class, classified, classify, classes, classed, classification, consciousness, unclassified, classing