class consciousness

Meaning: In Marx's conflict theory, class consciousness is a group's awareness of its shared position in the economic system and of interests that oppose those of another class. For workers (the proletariat), it means recognizing that owners of the means of production (the bourgeoisie) profit from their labor. Marx argued that this shared awareness lets people who merely occupy the same economic position act together as a class, which he saw as a step toward challenging the system.

On the MCAT: A passage may describe workers who organize, join a union or strike after seeing that their problems are shared, and ask which concept explains it. Answer choices often pair class consciousness with false consciousness, alienation or class conflict. Expect conflict theory, not functionalism, to be the perspective that stresses it.

Common confusion: Class consciousness is not the same as belonging to a class or having a certain income. That is objective class position. Class consciousness is a subjective awareness of shared interests. Its opposite is false consciousness, in which members of a class hold beliefs, such as that the system is fair to them, that hide their real interests and support the status quo.