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Preferred term

false consciousness/false needs  

Definition

  • False consciousness is a concept that developed in Marxist theory, in conjunction with ideology, to denote working-class people's inability to understand the economic and social conditions of their exploitation, especially insofar as they have been deceived by the forces of religion and nationalism. The concept of false needs emerged in the mid-twentieth century among scholars associated with the Frankfurt School in response to the consumer culture's use of advertising and marketing to manufacture desire and demand. [Source: Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture; False Consciousness/False Needs]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/false_consciousness_false_needs

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