NEGATIVE ILLUSIONS - CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION AND PSYCHOLOGICAL EVIDENCE CONCERNING FALSE CONSCIOUSNESS

The concept of false consciousness is reviewed from a historical persp ective and discussed in light of recent theoretical advances in social ist and feminist political philosophy. False consciousness is defined as the holding of false beliefs that are contrary to one's social inte rest and which thereby contribute to the disadvantaged position of the self or the group, It is argued that considerable psychological evide nce for false consciousness exists and that a thorough understanding o f the phenomenon integrates several lines of research on the problem o f political acquiescence. Six basic types of false consciousness ave p roposed: (1) Failure to perceive injustice and disadvantage, (2) Fatal ism, (3) Justification of social roles, (4) False attribution of blame , (5) Identification with the oppressor, and (6) Resistance to change. Because the concept of false consciousness is likely to arouse suspic ion because of its Marxian origins, several theoretical and methodolog ical objections to the scientific study of false consciousness ave rai sed and addressed.