How do we identify ourselves in society? To what working class do we belong? Karl Marx has helped us distinguish different social classes and understand the ideas or feelings held by members of each class. This paper will discuss and analyze Marx’s theory of class consciousness and false consciousness.
“In modern or bourgeois society the economy is organized around industrial production and commercial exchange; the main classes comprise the capitalists, who own the factories, the banks, and the goods and trade, and the proletarians, who own nothing but their own labor power. (p. 30)” Okay, what does that mean? Basically, it means we are separated by economic status. The rich above the middle class, and the poor on the bottom. Marx suggested that we view the world and adjust our behavior based on the class that we belong to. For example, I belong to the middle class, and I know what my financial means are, and how to live within those means. The class that I am in influences my opinions, hobbies, and the people that I hang out with. Our sense of identity, our taste, and our …show more content…
If an individual has a great class consciousness and recognizes their ability to make their situation better they can actually move up in class. So why don’t the capitalist want to help make people’s situations better? If they have class consciousness, do they not believe they could make their situation better? The perfect answer for that is, “that the bourgeois class consciousness leads to false consciousness because the bourgeoisie is unable to see beyond capitalism as a system, and end up by creating the conditions for their own demise as a class:” (Allahar, p. 101) It is interesting to me that the bourgeoisie has a false consciousness as well. As a society we are so driven by materialistic things and socioeconomic status, that we do not care who has to suffer so long as we have money and
“In modern or bourgeois society the economy is organized around industrial production and commercial exchange; the main classes comprise the capitalists, who own the factories, the banks, and the goods and trade, and the proletarians, who own nothing but their own labor power. (p. 30)” Okay, what does that mean? Basically, it means we are separated by economic status. The rich above the middle class, and the poor on the bottom. Marx suggested that we view the world and adjust our behavior based on the class that we belong to. For example, I belong to the middle class, and I know what my financial means are, and how to live within those means. The class that I am in influences my opinions, hobbies, and the people that I hang out with. Our sense of identity, our taste, and our …show more content…
If an individual has a great class consciousness and recognizes their ability to make their situation better they can actually move up in class. So why don’t the capitalist want to help make people’s situations better? If they have class consciousness, do they not believe they could make their situation better? The perfect answer for that is, “that the bourgeois class consciousness leads to false consciousness because the bourgeoisie is unable to see beyond capitalism as a system, and end up by creating the conditions for their own demise as a class:” (Allahar, p. 101) It is interesting to me that the bourgeoisie has a false consciousness as well. As a society we are so driven by materialistic things and socioeconomic status, that we do not care who has to suffer so long as we have money and