false consciousness
Misperceiving one's oppression
False consciousness is a Marxist term for a failure to recognize the true nature of one's social or economic situation—particularly when members of an oppressed class adopt beliefs that serve their oppressors' interests.
A factory worker opposing labor unions, or a poor voter supporting tax cuts for the wealthy, might be said to suffer from false consciousness.
The concept implies that ideology can blind people to their own exploitation.
Critics note its condescension: it assumes some people understand reality while others are duped.
- commodity fetishismObjects veil production relations
- delusionStubbornly held false belief
- wool over eyesDeceive by hiding truth
- proletariatLaborers lacking capital ownership
- working classManual laborers collectively
ruling class · ideology · manufactured consent · hegemony · social control · Marxism · alienation · wage slavery · materialism · critical theory · bourgeoisie · self-deception · cultural hegemony · motivated reasoning · capitalism · reification · class warfare · dialectic
- social classupper class, middle class, lower class, working class, social class
- communismMarx, Marxism, Leninism, Lenin, proletariat
- class struggleclass conflict, class warfare, class divide, class struggle, class division
- leftismMarxism, socialism, communism, leftist, socialist
- Classical SociologyDurkheim, Marx, Weber, Engels, anomie
- critical theorydeconstruction, Marxism, feminism, simulacrum, postcolonialism
false consciousnessclass consciousness
Awareness of economic group identity
political consciousness · class identity · enlightened self-interest
false consciousnessdemystification
Explaining the obscure
truth · knowledge · awareness · disillusionment · radicalization
false consciousnesstruth
Accordance with reality
knowledge · awareness · understanding · enlightenment · insight
false, falsehood, falsely, falsify, falsity, falseness, consciousness, falsification, falsifier