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Class consciousness is a category of Socialist and especially Marxist theory, referring to the self-awareness of a Social Class , its capacity to act in its own rational interests, or measuring the extent to which an individual is conscious of the historical tasks their class (or class allegiance) sets for them. GEORG LUKáCS' ''HISTORY AND CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS'' (1923) Class 's class consciousness is the result of a permanent struggle to understand the " Concrete Totality " of the Historical Process . According to Lukács, the proletariat was the first class in history that may achieve true class consciousness, because of its specific position highlighted in the '' is what follows the worker's estrangement to the world following the new life acquired by the product of his work. The Dominant Bourgeois Ideology thus leads the individual to see the achievement of his Labour take a life of its own. Furthermore, Specialization is also seen as a characteristic of the ideology of modern Rationalism , which creates specific and independent domains (art, politics, science, etc.). Only a global perspective can point out how all these different domains interact, argues Lukács. He also points out how Kant brought to its limit the classical opposition between the abstract Form and the concrete, historical content, which is abstractly conceived as irrational and Contingent . Thus, with Kant's rational system, history becomes totally contingent and is thus ignored. Only with Hegel 's Dialectic can a mediation be found between the abstract form and the abstract notion of a concrete content. Even if the bourgeois loses his , the proletariat has been transformed into an object (a commodity) which, when it takes consciousness of itself, transforms the very structure of objectivity, that is of reality. This specific role of the proletariat is a consequence of its specific position; thus, for the first time, consciousness of itself (class consciousness) is also consciousness of the totality (knowledge of the entire social and historical process). Through Dialectical Materialism , the proletariat understands that what the individual bourgeois conceived as "laws" akin to the Laws Of Nature , which may be only manipulated, as in Descartes 's dream, but not changed, is in fact the result of a social and historical process, which can be controlled. Furthermore, only dialectical materialism links together all specialized domains, which modern rationalism can only think as separed instead of as forming a totality. Only the proletariat can understand that the so-called " Eternal Laws Of Economics " are in fact nothing more than the historical form taken by the social and economical process in a capitalist society. Since these "laws" are the result of the collective actions of individuals, and are thus created by society, Marx and Lukács reasonned that this necessarily ensued that they could be ''changed''. Any attempt in transforming the so-called "laws" governing capitalism into Universal Principles , valid in all times and places, are criticized by Lukács as a form of false consciousness. As the "expression of the revolutionary process itself", dialectical materialism, which is the only theory with an understanding of the totality of the historical process, is the theory which may help proletariat in its "struggle for class consciousness". Although Lukács does not contest the marxist primacy of the economic Infrastructure on the ideological Superstructure (not to be mistaken with vulgar Economic Determinism ), he considers that there is a place for autonomous struggle for class consciousness. In order to achieve a unity of Theory and Praxis , theory must not only tend toward reality in an attempt to change it; reality must also tend towards theory. Otherwise, the historical process leads its life of its own, while theorists make their own little theories, desesperately waiting for some kind of possible influence over the historical process. Henceforth, reality itself must tends toward the theory, making it the "expression of the revolutionary process itself". In turn, a theory which has as goal to help the proletariat achieve class consciousness must first be an "objective theory of class consciousness". However, theory in itself is insufficient, and ultimately relies on the struggle of humankind and of the proletariat for consciousness: the "objective theory of class consciousness is only the theory of its objective possibility". OTHERS One of the curious results of certain class societies (or societies that are generally perceived to be based on class distinctions) is that people belonging to different social classes have different views on the class system as a whole, thus different forms of class consciousness. Typically, in English society, the results would be:
From this observation one can argue that class consciousness in modern English society is quite blurred, a situation which exists in other modern societies as well. A classical Fictional portrayal of a rigid Class System and Indoctrinated class consciousness is Aldous Huxley 's Dystopian novel '' Brave New World ''. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINK |