Marxist theory

Marxist theory

Karl Marx is conventionally famous for constructing a division of two classes when he branded them proletariats and bourgeoisie. In the Marxist theory, class consciousness is defined as the awareness and understanding of an individual’s economic and social class as compared to others. Class consciousness also involves where one’s class, whether social or economic, ranks in the larger society and the wider picture. According to Karl Marx, an individual is also supposed to understand the characteristics and collective interests of his or her class in the political and socio-economic order of society. Class consciousness is a core aspect of Karl Marx’s class conflict since it is the basis of relationships formed between owners and workers in society. Class consciousness creates awareness about social, political, and economic relationships between the oppressors and the oppressed in society. Karl Marx believes that the lower classes would get tired of the constant oppression from the owners’ class and rise up to overthrow them. Subsequently, a new system of political, social, and economic values would be created based on inequality to do away with the oppression of the bourgeoisie class. On the other hand, Max Weber takes an issue with Karl Marx’s interpretation of class into two. Weber believes there is more to class than just workers and owners. According to Weber, aspects such as power and prestige define a class in addition to property ownership. Further, there are workers who run corporations such as the chief executives who are also doing well, yet they do not own companies. Max Weber refers to these aspects as theory of stratification and believes that a lot is entailed in class and not just the definitions. Karl Marx and Max Weber, therefore, have diverging views about class, but all have a common consensus on the divisions and stratifications in society.

However, both Karl Max and Max Weber still believe that social class comes as a result of grouping people with similar economic, social, and political qualities.

Max Weber links the property to prestige by stating that ownership results in prestige since most wealthy people are held in high regard in society. Weber further believes that other individual qualities, such as athleticism and intellectual ability, can bring prestige to a person. Weber also believes that wealth and power define status in a society since wealthy people are known to exercise a lot of power. Power can also be acquired from individual brilliance so that it eventually leads to prestige. Consequently, Karl Marx defines false consciousness as the lack of understanding of one’s class and its rank in the society. False consciousness, therefore, seems to be the exact opposite of class consciousness, where instead of thinking of class as a collective aspect, one thinks about themselves. An individual, therefore, competes with others of similar social and economic standing as a single entity rather than a collective. One, therefore, forgets about the interests, struggles, and experiences of his or her class and goes out all war on everyone with similar economic and social standing. Both Max Weber and Karl Marx believe that false consciousness is a threat because it encourages selfishness and creates competition among people within a similar social class. The competition of economic, political, and social interests hinders the growth of a class because people compete within one system for limited resources.

In his definition, Karl Marx believes that false consciousness is a result of the bourgeoisie class because they create an unequal social system due to their fewer numbers. The ruling class also plant false consciousness into the lower classes through divide and rule tactics, which the proletariats fall prey to. Material things create false consciousness due to the fact that the lower classes lack them, and the need to own them leads to hunger and the desire to compete.

Using the social stratification theory of Marx Weber, it is easy to see that false consciousness is created through cultural hegemony. The belief that through education and hard work is the answer to climbing up the social class has produced individuals who want to build themselves rather than collective social class. The achievement of the American dream is among the cultural hegemony that has led to false consciousness in the social classes.

My experiences while growing up involved interactions with the people who live in our surroundings. The interactions were limited to people within my social class, which involved going to similar institutions such as schools, hospitals, and recreational parks. The interactions were possible and seamless due to similar interests from everyone in my environment, which made it harder to feel comfortable with other classes. The experiences growing up allowed me to understand and learn about my social class. However, I do not conform to class consciousness due to the belief that everyone is born an achiever and should not be held back due to loyalty to a specific social class. Further, it is impossible to fight for collective interests since there are a lot of diverse interests in a single social class.