individual is encouraged to see herself or himself as an entity free and indepe
ndent of social forces” 2002: 165. As for hegemony, a term given by the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci
1891-1934. Quoting Williams, Barry defines h egemony as „the whole lived
social process as practically organized by specific and dominant meanings, values and beliefs of a kind which can be abstracted as a “world view” or “class outlook”
2002: 164. In other words, hegemony is a kind of ideology that is dominant and able to influence the people without being forced. When this kind of system is
applied in the society, people will feel like they have freedom where they actually don‟t. In the Beginning Theory, William relates Hegemony to culture in general
and ideology in particular. Hegemony is like a form of social control that has been internalized a
nd can make certain views seem “natural” or visible so that they hardly seem like views at
all, „just the way things are‟ Barry, 2002: 164-165. Ever since this term is relatively connected to the concept of ideology, it can also
be seen as the element of interpellation. Hegemony and ideology can be used to see how far the interpellation is applied in certain society.
d. Theory of Class Consciousness
Jozef Wilczynski defines class consciousness as “the awareness and
understanding by members or group of a particular layer of society belonging to a distinct social class.” 1981: 78. Theory of class consciousness is one of the
fundamental theories in Marxism. If there is no class consciousness there will not be any struggle between classes. This concept of class consciousness is Marxist in
origin, expounded particularly by Engels and Lenin who stressed a need for the
development of an antagonistic of the proletariat against the Bourgeois. In this
context it involves:
1. Realization amongst the workers that they constitute a distinct and
fraternal social class, both nationally and internationally, and separate from the rest of society.
2. The workers‟ pride in their belongings to the largest class, united by
common problems and a struggle for the just cause. 3.
The conviction that the interests of the proletariat are irreconcilably opposed to those of the Bourgeois, against which the workers must unite
and fight to ensure social justice and to achieve a classless society. Wilczynski, 1981: 78.
Hence, to conduct class struggle, class consciousness in the context of Marxism is a significant necessity. One class must first realizes where they stand,
then acknowledge their common interest which is to achieve social justice and the common problems which is the experience of being oppressed by the other class
or in this context the capitalist. Thus, they will unite as one class with a common interest and problem and form a class struggle as the impact of oppression done
by the capitalist. There are two stages of the development of class consciousness proposed
by Hegel that is later adapted by Marx and Engels. “Class “in itself” and class for
itself” is Hegelian concept adapted and used in classical Marxist terminology Especially by Marx and Engles” Wilczynski, 1981: 79.
The former indicates the earlier stage, when workers become aware of their grievances against capitalist. If they take any action, it is directed against
individual employers, not capitalist as a class. In this stage the workers have gone through the oppression done by the capitalist and if they take any action to fight
against the capitalist as the impact of the oppression, it is considered as the
movement against their employers individually not capitalist as a class because they see capitalist as the group of oppressor. The later stage class “for itself”,
workers become conscious of their class identity. They start to realize that there are actually two classes in the society they are proletariat and capitalist. These two
classes are opposite to each other. Thus, any action by the proletariat in this stage directed to the capitalist is the impact of their demand of social justice and
considered as an act of one class proletariat against capitalist Bourgeois as a class who act as the oppressor.
e. Theory of Class Struggle
In Beginning Theory, Karl Marx defines struggle in the society as class struggle and Marxism sees the struggle as the power between different social
classes Barry, 2002: 157. This struggle mainly is driven by the competition for economic, social, and political advantage. However, the idea of class struggle
itself is not originally coming from Karl Marx. Henry B. Mayo writes that the idea of class struggle did not, as we know, originate with Marx. Its existence has been
recognized from years before Marx lived but actually it was only Marx who made
it into the mainspring of history 1960: 93.
Nikolai Bukharin describes class struggle as “a struggle in which one class has entered into action against the other class” 1969: 298. This struggle happens
when the oppressed class realizes that they in some point are being oppressed by another class.
In Gary Day‟s Class, Marx located the source of this conflict in the fact that one class owned the means of production, while the other class owned
nothing but their labor power which they were obliged to sell in order to survive.
