False consciousness
Etymology
A Marxist concept; the exact phrase appears in Friedrich Engels’s 1893 letter to Franz Mehring, describing thinkers unaware of the real forces driving their thought. "Consciousness" is from Latin "conscius" (aware) — here a consciousness systematically mistaken about its own basis.
noun phrase · /FAWLS KON-shus-nis/
A distorted understanding of one’s own situation and interests, held by an oppressed group, that serves the interests of the powerful.
What it names
A handle for how people can sincerely embrace beliefs that work against them — reach for it to name internalized ideology that hides real conditions.
Example
Critics called the workers’ pride in brutal hours a case of false consciousness, mistaking their exploitation for virtue.
Related idea
It is the psychological underside of hegemony, the process by which a ruling group’s worldview comes to feel like plain common sense.