We explain what social conscience is and some characteristics of this mental activity. Also, what is class consciousness.
What is social conscience?
Social consciousness is that study or mental activity through which a person can become aware of the state of other individuals or even of herself within a community or group.
Social consciousness is a particular type of consciousness. Consciousness is a psychological concept, probably one of the most important within this discipline. However, it has not been exclusive to the psychology; the philosophy has been one of the first branches of the science charged with reflecting on the role of conscience in the knowledge.
Consciousness can be understood as that capacity to reason, in which we can interpret external and even internal stimuli and sensations (that is, mental states). Self-consciousness, that is, recognizing oneself as a rational entity different from what surrounds it, is one of the main differences with the rest of the living beings.
Now, if consciousness is that ability to reason, to relate through our intellect with ourselves and the world around us, what is social consciousness? Social conscience is a particular type of conscience, it is one that allows us to relate in society, establishing relationships of empathy with the people around us. This type of conscience is vital for the correct development of a community, since it forms individuals that are more respectful, virtuous and capable of developing all their potential.
The need and relevance of social conscience vary, depending on the historical moment and the form of government. With monarchical systems, social conscience was not necessarily a relevant factor for the way of governing, since no matter how much all social actors were aware of their situation, they did not have ways of reaching the can, except for revolutions or civil wars.
On the other hand, with the French Revolution people eventually become citizens. This entails a radical change in the way of life of individuals, since it is the cradle of human rights where social conscience is established with basic parameters that cannot be violated. The democracy It is the form of government that takes social conscience to its maximum expression, being one of the pillars of this system.
Many dictatorial phenomena, mainly those that occurred throughout the 20th century, have a deep ideological bias that makes social conscience a control tool. This is mainly due to the fact that many great ideologues of the worst political and ideological movements have a great “social conscience”.
At first glance, this may contradict what has been said above, but it is necessary to make a clarification: as we said, social conscience is the ability to recognize the situation in which we find ourselves with respect to others, but this does not necessarily have to be translated into a good attitude for the rest. Social conscience can be reduced to its instrumental character, interpreting the social context to take measures that can guide the conduct of individuals.
Social conscience or class conscience
For the Marxist current, social consciousness is a synonym, or at least a necessary consequence, of class consciousness. Class consciousness, for its part, is that action by which a class assumes itself (in this case, the proletariat) as an actor in a historical evolution, closely associated with the place they occupy within history itself.
For him Marxism, the story is the story of the class struggle. Throughout the development of civilization, the two great classes, oppressors and oppressed, constantly clash, but it will only be when the proletariat understands that it is itself who produces the wealth that gives movement to the system. The worker or proletarian who fails to become socially conscious (or in this case class consciousness) finds himself totally alienated.
In this sense, social consciousness manifests itself under the crystallization of the class condition and is expressed in the art, the philosophy, the religion and many other expressions cultural, all expressions of a greater condition: ideology.