What is Meant by the Terms False Consciousness and Hegemony?

False consciousness is a term that gets tossed around a good deal when dealing with political ideologies, but what exactly does it mean and what does it imply? False consciousness is essentially any ideas or opinions or thoughts that are contradictory to the reality of an ideological situation, but which is normalized by the system and accepted by the citizens. Although usually applied to Marxism, false consciousness is not a term that originated with Karl Marx. It did develop from the followers and practitioners of his theories of class struggle, however. Specifically in terms of early Marxist revolutionary theory, the term false consciousness was developed to refer to the fact that the exploited worker could not see how he was being exploited because the ruling class controlled the social system and created a false illusion among the working class that the situation was a natural fact. Lenin and others assumed that as more and more people could be shown that what they had come to believe was a natural evolution of socio-economics was actually being manipulated by the ruling classes precisely to keep them oppressed and unaware that a revolutionary fervor could be inculcated among the masses.

Lenin saw, however, that the working class had been so successfully systematized that awareness of the existence of this false consciousness would result in only a reformist reaction to the existing economic state rather than the full-scale revolutionary movement necessary to overhaul the failures of the existing system. For that to happen, the exploited workers needed guidance from the revolutionary vanguard. Naturally enough, this inherited perspective has led to the oftentimes deserved castigation of the revolutionary front as elitists who believe themselves more qualified to know what’s best for the working class than the working class itself. There is an element of truth to that, of course. There is also some truth to the idea that the adoption of the concept of false consciousness had led to a lack of genuine research into the consciously held ideas of the working class. In other words, the temptation has been to dismiss all the ideas and opinions held by the working class as useless because it has all been accepted under false pretenses.

The last few decades or so have seen a movement away from the acceptance of false consciousness. In its place has been the adoption of the concept of hegemony. Hegemony is similar to false consciousness in that it still accepts the idea that class domination occurs through the engineering of a false belief system by the ruling class through culture and institutions. Hegemony may be witnessed in the United States through such ideas as the perpetuation of the myth that the man who occupies the Oval Office is deserving of respect simply by virtue of the office he holds. Or a CEO. Or anyone else in power. It is an example of domination through consensus. The prevailing belief of most Americans has consistently been to trust our leaders simply because they hold the position of leadership, not because they have done anything to deserve the trust or respect. It is very subtle coercion, of course, but incredibly powerful. How powerful? Well, most major polls have repeatedly revealed that most Americans don’t trust politicians of either party. They are the object of derision and suspicion and most people are so cynical of them that they don’t even bother to vote. According to the polls, there is no politician in America who can be trusted. That’s what the polls say, anyway, when the question is posed generally. It is agreed: all politicians are crooks and liars.

So then why did 88% of Americans back the invasion of Iraq? Why did Americans come together to show unqualified support for President Bush following the attacks of 9/11? Because we have been taught to trust the office, not the man. George W. Bush had never done anything in his life that 88% of Americans would consider worthy of instilling their trust in him for. No politician has. But like lemmings drawn to the edge of the cliff, 88% of Americans unquestioningly accepted that because he was the President he deserved our backing, no matter what his decision was.

Of course, considering that 53% of those 88% of Americans now view things quite differently, maybe we should return to the idea of breaking through the false consciousness and seeing the reality behind the construct.