Karl Marx False Consciousness

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In regards to Marx, false consciousness means people sharing wrong beliefs about important matters to them (Plamenatz, 1970, p.23). False consciousness can therefore be interpreted as a sort of mask or shadow that hides a reality from those who have it. An example of this mask would be the Bourgeois views of a society which Marx believed were crucial for the society to be able to convey their true desires (Plamenatz, 1970, p.24). Further explaining this concept, false consciousness is a distraction to keep the Proletariat class believing that things will always get better; therefore, preventing revolts against the state. When Marx describes alienation, he mentions four different stages of labour. He suggests that man can become estranged from …show more content…
An example of this depicted by Marx is with God. He believes that, “The more man puts into God, the less he retains within himself.” (Marx, 1992, p.324). Because man puts his life into an object, that object now belongs to itself. Therefore, the more objects man produces, the less objects he owns and the less he is of himself. In addition, the worker becomes a slave of his object. He first receives an object of labour, he receives work, and then a means for survival so that he can continue being a worker. (Marx, 1992, p.325). Through externalization of the worker, his labour becomes an object, it exists outside of him and confronts him. Considering that the labour of the worker is only a means of survival; it is alternatively work forced to perform for someone else (Marx, 1992, p.326). It exists outside of man and signifies a loss of his self. This results in man thinking that he is acting freely when he is doing basic acts, such as: eating, drinking and procreating; and can be related to an animal in his “human functions” (Marx, 1992, …show more content…
Privately owned corporations exploit workers and seclude them all in the name of profit. The private corporations become the master, while the workers they exploit are the slaves. An example of this ‘alienated through capitalism’ concept would be the factory EUPA in China. Depicted in the 2009 documentary ‘Factory City’, EUPA is more than a normal factory. It is also the living establishment for all their 17, 000 workers (Factory City, 2009). They marry other workers, raise their children there and enroll them in the factory’s own school until they can work full-time. (Factory City, 2009). The factory itself enforces their false consciousness by paying for the workers’ weddings, and having them all at the same time. They force workers to marry other workers because that is the only option they have. This is a sort of oppressed version of ‘free will’ seeing as they never leave the factory and therefore have no notion of someone who does not work there but they feel as if they are deciding on their own fate. They are alienated to the point that they feel their ‘downtime’ is taking a short walk together, or having a short meal after work (Factory City, 2009). EUPA is the master, and the workers are the slaves. In this capitalistic regime, EUPA depends on a constant supply of labour and future labour in shaping the children of workers to grow up with the knowledge of the

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