class conciousness

[redcannon]

what exactly is class consciousness?

[Random Precision]

Class consciousness is the individual's recognition his place in his own class and its role in history, and therefore the ability to act in his or her own rational self interest.

It has to do directly with the socialist struggle: the proletariat will not revolt against capitalism unless they realize that establishing socialism is in their rational interest. Likewise, if the bourgeoisie know that capitalism is in their rational interest, they will want to keep it around.

However, the proletariat is the first class to develop true class consciousness. The bourgeoisie and other classes do not understand the historical process; instead they eternalize temporary stages of human development like capitalism. This is what's called "false consciousness".

At the current stage in history, at least in the United States there is a very low level of proletarian class consciousness. This is why the lion's share of the struggle in my country amounts to propaganda and agitation.

It is determined by what class an individual is raised in: for example, I have been raised a member of the petit-bourgeoisie class. I therefore have bourgeoisie false consciousness which will remain in a latent form unless I fully proletarianize myself. Even then, however, I cannot develop proletarian class consciousness.

All this is from my own limited understanding of the concept, so here's the key Marxist work on it: http://www.marxists.org/archive/lukacs/wor...ory/lukacs3.htm (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lukacs/works/history/lukacs3.htm)

[Red Rebel]

Class (http://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/c/l.htm#class) = A group of people sharing common relations to labor and the means of production.
Counsciousness (http://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/c/o.htm#consciousness) = awareness of a person's self, environment, and thought.

[Janus]

Awareness of the plight/condition of one's class as well as its historical role. Check out Lukacs's paper for a more in-depth analysis of it:
class consciousness (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lukacs/works/history/lukacs3.htm)