Discussion Of Marx's 'False Consciousness'

Class consciousness, linked in with false consciousness, is a core concept of Marx’s thought about how society is run and capitalism upheld and his ideas have moulded the way other sociologists think and approach the central issues and concepts of society . This notion stems from Marx’s belief that Capitalism leads to divisions in society which come about when the “direct producers [are] separated from the means of production, [and] become the monopoly over the minority” . Marx was originally influenced by Hegel’s study of the French revolution forming the opinion that one system of society will be replaced by another, causing society to develop through the “ancient, feudal and industrial” societies. Marx, using Hegel’s philosophies, explains
As Giddens states, Marx looks at how “class relationships directly link to the economic organisation of society” . From this, Marx shows that the way production is organised shapes the way society is organised and he used his idea of a base and superstructure to demonstrate this because, in order to understand society, one needs to be able to understand those who are in charge of it, as they define the dominant ideology and Marx saw false consciousness as the product of this unequal social order. Marx believed that having a False Consciousness allowed Capitalism to flourish because it prevented the Proletariat from seeing their own worth and value of labour and from realising the exploitation and inequality present in Capitalism. Consequently, through history it has been seen that “society gives off a social pressure” meaning that individuals act against their own beliefs because society dictates they do, echoing Marx’s theory on false consciousness where members of society are seen to be individualistic and disunited. Marx predicted that this inequality in society will undermine Capitalism and cause its downfall as the gain of a Class Consciousness, will remove this individualistic idea and allow for the creation of unified workers to overthrow the Bourgeoisie and the Capitalism underpinning
However, it doesn’t necessarily fit as he had predicted it would “as the working class in the form which Marx conceived it, no longer exists” . This can be seen in modern society where there is a higher proportion of white-collar workers than blue-collar workers which goes against Marx’s theory that most are destined for blue-collar work resulting in a smaller class of capitalists . Instead, Marx’s theory of class consciousness and the succeeding revolution has been altered so that now the problem for the working class is not to rival the upper classes but reject the idea that their only role is that of a labourer . However, despite Marx’s predictions much of the world is still capitalist because the ruling class “provide the preconditions for [its] continuation” meaning the cycle of capitalism is unlikely to end because capitalism itself is constantly evolving and society adapts with it. Therefore, it could be said that the theory of class consciousness is still relevant today, but instead of two antagonistic divisions, “there is a large middle class” with a slowly closing class gap, making the inequalities that became the driving force of Marx’s theory on class consciousness and the subsequent revolutions, less apparent and therefore less of a point of conflict in