ext_50177 ([identity profile] fpb.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] fpb 2005-09-26 10:07 pm (UTC)

Re: Slightly OT note

I beg your pardon. False consciousness means different things to different people. Vulgar Marxists use it as a catch-all explanation where people do not conform to their view of their natural needs - for instance, when working-class people are found to be religious and devoted to the laws and independence of their nation. In that case, it only means that capitalist indoctrination has functioned all too well. (Especially since the victims of this purported false consciousness have this unfortunate trick of not listening to vulgar-Marxist arguments and even dare to feel patronized when they have it explained to them that their belief in God or in the law is merely a cloak of misunderstaning imposed on them by the evil capitalistic system.)
I prefer to use it for what I outlined in my essay above: a skewed view of reality, especially in moral terms, due to the pressure of one's social background and interests and to an unrecognized need to feel in the right. So Hollywood, and now much of the Western world, have sunk into a false consciousness about sexual habits, which means not just rejecting but reversing the normal and traditional attitude to sex. For women, this means being rebelliously ignorant of the value of chastity and modesty, dressing in crudely provocative ways and treating sexual congress as a passing pleasure. The falsity of this structure of behaviour is shown by the fact that it is most often underpinned by large doses of alcohol, which young women would not need if they were doing something with which their deepest being was easy.

Post a comment in response:

This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting