| 1. | a Marxist theory that people are unable to see things, esp. exploitation, oppression, and social relations, as they really are; the hypothesized inability of the human mind to develop a sophisticated awareness of how it is developed and shaped by circumstances. |
| 2. | any belief or view that prevents a person from being able to understand the true nature of a situation. |
| false consciousness n. In Marxist theory, a failure to recognize the instruments of one's oppression or exploitation as one's own creation, as when members of an oppressed class unwittingly adopt views of the oppressor class. |