Class Consciousness and the Marxist Dialectic: The Elusive Synthesis

In: The review of politics, Band 42, Heft 4, S. 504-532

Abstract

Within the Marxist theory of history and society, the concept of class consciousness has played a major, though problematic, role. The proper interpretation of this concept, embedded as it is within the complex relational framework of the historical dialectic, has presented a perennial problem to the interpreters of Marx, both the theorists and the activists. For both logical and practical reasons, class consciousness can be seen as the Achilles' heel of the Marxist scheme.