To me the question of false consciousness is the key to why there has been
no workers' revolution in the US, despite the fact that it has had a large
powerful working class for more than 100 years. I agree with Marx that
"being determines consciousness" which means that the natutre of one's
relationship to capital and income-producing property is what sets the tone
for how one views the world and the particular social/economic/political
system. Middle class people see the world very differently than working
class people (including Bourdieu's "habitus" and all that), and the
bourgeoisie sees things very differently from all of the above. But I also
agree with Marx about the dastardly role of false consciousness among the
working class (cleverly cultivated and manipulated by the bourgeoisie, as
explained by Gramsci) in duping people into accepting values inimical to
their own welfare.
Here's an interesting recent study that documents once again how it works
in electoral politics. This is just a snippet from the intro, along with
one link to a discussion of the larger study. I have more material on this
for interested parties.
Cheers,
Pete Farruggio
UC Berkeley Sociologist Arlie Hochschild answers the question, "Why are 50%
of Blue Collar White Males Planning to Vote for Bush in 2004, Even When He
is Picking Their Pockets and Stealing the Futures of Their Children?"
A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW
>"George W. Bush is sinking in the polls, but a few beats on the war drum
>could reverse that trend and re-elect him in 2004. Ironically, the sector
>of American society now poised to keep him in the White House is the one
>which stands to lose the most from virtually all of his policies --
>blue-collar men. A full 49 percent of them and 38 percent percent of
>blue-collar women told a January 2003 Roper poll they would vote for Bush
>in 2004." -- Arlie Hochschild
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16885
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At 11:36 AM 12/24/2003, you wrote:
>Thanks for another great thought-provoker, Eugene. I will be away
>from computer for the next days but I want to slip in a thought in this
>thread because I have been giving this problem of false consciousness some
>thought, especially in respect to workers, but also all social
>classes. My experience has generally confirmed the idea that a key driver
>of people's political and social consciousness is the relationship they
>have with property - their own, and that of others. Just measuring income
>and assets in dollar totals loses much of the dynamics of this
>relationship. In my opinion it is property (of which money is one form)
>that really constitutes membership and aspired membership in a social
>class. Property comes in various forms; capital (loosely, objects that
>can be worked on or with that can produce saleable products) at one end of
>the spectrum and personal property with negligible value (mundane clothes,
>dishes, etc.) at the other. Its the relationship people and families have
>to the first end, to capital (money-making property) that I think has the
>deepest effects on working people and everyone else. These relationships
>come in many, many forms, from outright ownership, to owing a substantial
>debt to be the caretaker of some property, to owning a capitalist
>business, to working for a capitalist and identifying with their capital
>and methods of business. Aspirations for shifting one's class position -
>for example, quitting one's job and owning one's own business - also play
>an enormous role. When major aspects of the capitalist property system
>break down, or especially, alternate between stability and mass misery,
>working people begin to restructure their conception of property -
>personal, private and public - and under those conditions, begin to lose
>their false, individualistic consciousness and gain a much more realistic
>sense of the socio-economic system they are collectively trying to live
>in. Under such conditions, mass working class consciousness often begins
>to emerge. Attitudes about social issues undergo deep transformations as
>the oppressed engage in struggle; notions of emancipation and freedom
>become paramount. Rich capitalists, of course, would see this process in
>just the opposite way - when the workers begin to think of property and
>social change in a socialist way, they are losing their minds. The
>essential idea I am suggesting here is to view people's relationships with
>property as a key to comprehending core features of their political,
>social and cultural consciousness. As their relationships with property
>change, so does their consciousness.
>
>Best,
>- Steve
>
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