Paper Example on Class Consciousness

Introduction

Class consciousness is a theory that is elaborated by Karl Marx especially concerning the characterization of the working class. Under the approach, the workers first become conscious of the manner in which they share grievances against the capitalists in the society. Eventually, the group of individuals develop awareness about themselves and then form a social class. Karl Marx asserts that the society is divided into the bourgeoisie and Proletariat which separates the human practices. Groups and inequality in Canada have been as a result of a capitalist economic system whereby the means of production are owned privately. The high class operate their companies and businesses to extract profit whereas the lower level provides human labor. Capitalism is the primary factor that inhibits politically relevant class consciousness among the working class Canadians because it leads to inequality.

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Discussion

Under capitalism, the working class Canadians do not own any means of production, and thus they do not have any principal source of income. Therefore, the individuals are forced to sell their labor power so that they can be paid a certain wage (Crompton, 2015). In Canada, the working class are the majority as the workers are employed in all the sectors of the economy both the organized and those that are not organized, the economy is also comprised of the unemployed and their families. The working Canadians are advised to invest in stock and bonds and even pension because it helps the owners of production to spend more and this creates an illusion that they have a say in the economy whereas this is not the case because the capitalist class always has the control.

Currently, in the country, the small producers and traders are cornered by the big firms that belong to the capitalists. Formation of monopolies that dominate the economy has become the basis of imperialism. Therefore it is evident that despite the ability of capitalism to help in the generation of immense wealth in Canada, it has caused significant economic crisis such as mass unemployment. Capitalism is unable to solve significant contractions in the economy thus resulting in considerable class differences (Hanappi & Hanappi-Egger, 2018). Therefore, it also clear that the working class will never be in a position to overthrow capitalism to establish a socialist society. The assumption is made because the Canadians in the working class require a political revolution to conquer state power. Moreover, this means that the individuals have to intervene in the political as well as the economic questions because they have to transform all the aspects of the society.

The Canadians are not engaging in independent political activity because the bourgeoisie holds the positions. The individuals only provide the numbers whenever there are significant protests against some of the unlawful activities that the capitalists engage in while in power. Marx asserts that the concept of spontaneous nature does not solve the problem, rather poor leadership bridges the gap between actual and possible consciousness. However the working class Canadian do not find the opportunities to get right positions that can enable them to address the issues that they face. Besides, they may not have sufficient resources to get too political leadership. For instance, the labor unions fight hard to ensure that the workers are adequately compensated even for overtime. Nonetheless, the owners of the companies squeeze their wages to ensure that they get sufficient profits from their investments.

Political variation is the only way that the working Canadian citizens can have revolutions that are similar to those in the socialist countries such as Russia and China. In addition to this, the workers will be disenfranchised in the liberal societies and also reduce the vast class differences. For instance, the mobilization involves the growth of employment and growth of same contracts for individuals both skilled and semi-skilled to have a particular wage rate. Canadian workers will achieve class consciousness once they are enfranchised, and also a more significant percentage of people is employed. Canada is one of the countries that has witnessed a shift from the age of industrialism to the age of industry where capital and labor relations have become strained. However, the working class industry is also disappearing because the low skilled jobs have moved offshore and the service and tech jobs have been able to fill the long-term uncertainties. Canada is less self-conscious about the indicators of status in the society as the politicians are not a guide to the place of social status.

As compared to the United States and Britain, it is difficult to attain class consciousness in Canada because the statuses are challenging to define. The young people in the country seem to be more vigilant trying to move away from habits and routines to ensure that the public opinion is radicalized. There is an enormous pressure that is building up in the working class system although this system is looking for an outlet that will help the workers and those who are not in the capitalist category to express their concerns. The movement is being led by the leadership of the labor movement and workers parties to solve the economic crisis that has been brought by capitalism. However, no present vehicle can enable the revolutionary people to take power which shows that the working class Canadians have not yet entered the struggle defensively.

Conclusion

To sum it up, the writings by Karl Marks provide a vivid explanation of the concept of class consciousness. From the discussion, Canada is a state that has no precise definitions of groupings and status as compared to other countries such as Britain. Nonetheless, the most significant challenge that inhibits class consciousness among the working class is capitalism. The working class has not yet entered into a full revolution to obtain political power which is an initial step of reducing grouping and economic inequality. There has to be a revolutionary consciousness to have real possibilities of actual change.

References

Crompton, R. (2015). Class and stratification. John Wiley & Sons.

Hanappi, H., & Hanappi-Egger, E. (2018, March). Social Identity and Class Consciousness. In Forum for Social Economics (pp. 1-28). Routledge.