Class Sub-Conscious: Hegemony, False Consciousness, and the Development of Political and Economic Policy Attitudes

Abstract

Americans dislike economic inequality and prefer to see it reduced. However, Americans also fail to understand the severity of the economic divide in US society between those with and without financial wealth. The refusal to recognize this economic divide between ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ carries profound implications for American public policy. Those who fail to recognize the economic divide are less likely to support redistributive efforts to reduce the divide in an era of record inequality. In this study, I document the effects of class consciousness on opinions of progressive and conservative political-economic policy-related issues. I identify the ways in which Americans subconsciously allow their personal backgrounds and their opinions about the economic divide to color their opinions of political-economic policy issues.