class consciousness

class consciousness, the self-understanding of members of a social class. This modern sociological concept has its origins in, and is closely associated with, Marxist theory.

Although Karl Marx himself did not articulate a theory of class consciousness, he intimated the concept in his characterization of the working class. According to Marx, workers first become conscious of sharing common grievances against capitalists (thus forming a class “in itself”) and eventually develop an awareness of themselves as forming a social class opposed to the bourgeoisie (thus becoming a class “for itself”), the proletariat. Class consciousness is a historical phenomenon, born out of collective struggle. In this sense, Marx did not approach class consciousness as a matter of pure ideality. Rejecting any separation of theory and practice, he used the term “conscious human practices” to emphasize the conjunction of subjectivity and objectivity in history.

In his seminal study of class consciousness, the Hungarian Marxist philosopher György Lukács stressed the need to distinguish between class consciousness and the ideas or feelings actually held by the members of a social class. An objective analysis of class consciousness, according to Lukács, must take into account those thoughts and feelings but also those that the members would have held were they able to acquire a true picture of their situation and of society as a whole.

Because Marxism considers social classes to have objective identities and interests, its conception of class consciousness includes the possibility of its antithesis: false consciousness. Broadly defined, false consciousness refers to a distorted understanding of one’s class identity and interest. From the perspective of Marxism, it concerns primarily the tension between the historical mission of the working class (to destroy capitalism and realize the socialist revolution) and its understanding thereof. The problem of false consciousness has encouraged an elitist streak in Marxism.

Although false consciousness is an error, it is not baseless or purely fictitious. It is itself historically determined. For Marx, capitalism is in a perpetual and eventually fatal state of crisis. Capitalism unleashes forces of production that come to undermine its own sustainability. For example, capital accumulation leads to increasing economic inequalities, which reduces the purchasing power of workers and in turn diminishes profit. Lukács suggested that the bourgeoisie cannot face that crisis, because to do so would require accepting the end of the class structure and relinquishing their class privilege. In that sense, the economic and political ideology of the bourgeoisie is a form of false consciousness, but it is nonetheless objectively determined by the historical position of that class.

After Marx, socialist thinkers diverged on the status of working-class consciousness. Some were optimistic and considered the working class to be naturally in tune with its class interest and spontaneously revolutionary; others, like Lenin, argued that the working class did not possess instinctual socialist tendencies and therefore needed to be enlightened by a revolutionary vanguard.

In a seminal redefinition, the sociologist Michael Mann examined different dimensions of class consciousness: class belonging and identity, class antagonism, class totality (the idea that social classes encompass the entirety of society), and the vision of a classless society. Those dimensions not only are formal subcategories but correspond to experiences that generate class awareness and class solidarity. For instance, the experience of economic exploitation can lead workers to recognize that they have a stake in each other’s well-being, and from there they will develop class consciousness and class solidarity. Mann’s focus was placed on consciousness itself and thus departed to some extent from Marx’s attempt to embed consciousness in social practices.

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Despite its Marxist origin, the concept of class consciousness is not necessarily predicated on a revolutionary view of history. The sociologist Karl Mannheim, for instance, associated social classes with distinct understandings of reality without presuming one to be more valid than others. Mannheim believed that social class frames one’s understanding of reality, whether one is a member of the working class or part of the elite. The result is a more or less partial and distorted understanding, necessarily skewed by interest. Mannheim thus identified class consciousness with ideological alienation. Therefore, the solution lies not in greater class solidarity but, on the contrary, in acquiring a more-enlightened understanding by approaching reality from a multiplicity of perspectives. It is important to note that Marx and Mannheim did not consider all forms of knowledge to be equally affected by class consciousness; they regarded mathematics and science to be free of its influence.

The concept of class consciousness receded in public discourse with the fall of communist regimes at the end of the 20th century. Nevertheless, the idea continues to raise important sociological questions, such as these: What is the relationship between economic condition and subjectivity? What is the role of the intelligentsia in bringing about political change? Are there collective forms of consciousness and, if so, what is their political efficacy?