A01=Guenter Lewy
American Education
Author_Guenter Lewy
Category=JBCT
Category=JPVH
College Professors
Compulsory Psychiatric Treatment
critique of Marxist consciousness theory
cultural hegemony
Czarist Police
DKP
emancipatory education
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
False Consciousness
Federal Republic Of Germany
Good Life
Hsueh Hsi
Human Suffering
ideology critique
Leninist Vanguard Party
Mannheim Paradox
Mao Zedong
Marxist theory
media influence analysis
National News Council
National People's Congress
National People’s Congress
NBC News
neo-Marxist Critical Theory
Network News Departments
political indoctrination
Serbsky Institute
South Vietnamese
Special Psychiatric Hospital
Thought Reform
Vanguard Party
West Germany
Young Men
Product details
- ISBN 9780878554515
- Weight: 530g
- Dimensions: 152 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 30 Jan 1982
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Inc
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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In this book, Guenter Lewy explains and critiques the idea of false consciousness - that people living under capitalism do not know their best interests. This idea was prevalent in the writings of nineteenth century Marxism, modern communism, and the New Left. Lewy applies what German scholars call Ideologiekritik to the Marxian concept of ideology or false consciousness itself, to demystify the concept of mystification. He also presents an account of the historical development of the concept, and the dangers of its application in society. Belief in false consciousness inspired many social scientists to propose that elite classes in capitalist countries use the media and the education system to manipulate the proletariat, thus perpetuating their own power. Lewy marshals social scientific evidence to refute that idea, demonstrating that education and the mass media in the United States in fact often challenge accepted values and the status quo. Lewy documents Soviet and Chinese brainwashing efforts to eradicate dangerous political ideas and values derived from a belief in false consciousness. He also reviews attempts by Marxist and neo-Marxist educators and social scientists in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) to free young people from false consciousness by means of emancipatory pedagogy--a program of intense political indoctrination.
