class consciousness

noun

1. awareness of one's own social or economic rank in society.

2. a feeling of identification and solidarity with those belonging to the same social or economic class as oneself.

class consciousness

1. Identification with other members of one's own class and awareness of its relationship with other classes. According to Marxist theory, the proletariat (see also proletariat) will assume class consciousness when workers realize that they are being exploited by the bourgeoisie; then a proletarian revolution will be inevitable. Contrary to this theory, however, the American working class is primarily socially conservative.

Other Word Forms

• class-conscious adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of class consciousness¹

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

Class consciousness is evident throughout the movie, both in the goonies’ ability to make the most out of the meager resources at their disposal and in their imaginative leap of faith that One-Eyed Willy’s buried treasure really is out there somewhere.

From Salon

We know nothing about the other gladiators, or how they got to the point where a boring speech was enough to suddenly awaken their class consciousness, but at least we know how Hanno got here.

From Salon

Class consciousness has largely remained dormant in America, in large part because most people consider themselves to belong to the same amorphous socioeconomic class.

From Salon

As Noodle likes to say, “the greedy beat the needy,” and thus, “Wonka” becomes a film about class consciousness and the redistribution of wealth.

From Los Angeles Times

In commemoration of that clash, May Day was established as a larger international holiday that helped “build worker class consciousness” around much of the world, he said.

From Seattle Times