Definition of Class Consciousness

In the context of the tradition of thought initiated by the philosopher Karl Marx (1818-1883), the notion of class consciousness makes refers to the degree of understanding that workers have about their actual belonging to a social class —namely, their belonging to the oppressed classes—according to the role they occupy within the economic regime of society, structured into two social classes antagonistic.

Living conditions and social conscience

Marx points out that the material conditions of the existence of men, that is, the Mode of production of his material, concrete life, shapes his spiritual life in general. From the point of view of materialism classical historical, developed by Marx together with Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), the economic structure conditions the social superstructure, policy and culture. Therefore, it is not the conscience of men that determines their social being, that is, the way in which they constitute social relations; but, conversely, their consciousness is determined by such relations (which, in turn, are shaped according to the organization of the material production of life).

The way in which the material conditions of life and the consciousness of the subjects are related is dialectical, that is to say that both elements reciprocally affect each other as the story progresses and, with it, the societies. In this sense, it should be noted that Marx does not unilaterally support a determinism of the economic structure over the conscience of men and their political-cultural organization.

Although the conditions of production and reproduction of real life (the economic factor) constitute the social base, the superstructural elements —that is, the political and legal forms that the class struggle adopts— they also exert their own influence on the course of history, often determining the way in which the contradiction between the classes manifests itself concretely. social. Thus, the activity of men is not determined absolutely by their economic situation, but they do their their own history based on the material means they have, under the influence of political and ideological.

Social class and class consciousness

Historically, societies have been shaped according to the way in which social relations are organized in the productive process, within which the subjects fulfill different roles. Such roles determine belonging to a specific social condition —that is, to a social class—; Thus, under the capitalist mode of production, society is divided into two great fighting classes: on the one hand, the owners of the means of production (the bourgeoisie) and, on the other, the workers (the proletariat), who only own their labor power and must sell it in exchange for a salary.

Now, in production, not only is a social being of the subjects configured, through which not inscribed within one class or another, but, at the same time, a consciousness social. Said consciousness is, then, a product of practice (mainly, of productive praxis) and, consequently, it is in permanent transformation.

Thus, historically, the position of the subjects in the productive process conditions the perception that they have about themselves in relation to the whole and about society in general. Then the psychology of individuals, their feelings, ways of thinking and conceptions about life, are shaped by the material bases and the relations of production. Under the capitalist system, such relations are configured according to the private property of the means of production (as well as the product of the labor of the workers, which remains in the hands of the bourgeois).

For Marx, in this way, the class consciousness of the proletariat consists of the consciousness of its interests as a social class, as well as of the fact that those are antagonistic to the interests of the bourgeois class, to the extent that, for the propertied bourgeoisie to achieve its goal of maximizing profit, a greater exploitation of the resources is inevitable. workers.

The way in which the philosopher refers to the workers' awareness of their material conditions and the need to organize to conquer political power and then abolish oppressive relations, it is from the notion of class to Yeah. As long as the proletariat does not constitute a class for itself, aware of its own conditions and economic interests, it assumes those of the bourgeoisie, under the forms of the dominant ideology.

References

Ríos, A., & Leninista, P. c. m. Class consciousness in the doctrine of Carlos Marx. Unity and Fight, 35.