Character mask
In Marxist philosophy, a character mask is a prescribed social role which conceals the contradictions of a social relation or order.
The term was used by Karl Marx in published writings from the 1840s to the 1860s, and also by Friedrich Engels. It is related to the classical Greek concepts of mimesis and prosopopoeia, and the Roman concept of persona, but also differs from them. Neo-Marxist and non-Marxist sociologists, philosophers and anthropologists have used character masks to interpret how people relate in societies with a complex division of labour, where people depend on trade to meet many of their needs. Marx's own notion of the character mask was not a fixed idea with a singular definition.
Versus social masks
As a psychological term, "character" is more common in continental Europe, while in Britain and North America the term "personality" is used in approximately the same contexts. Marx however uses the term "character mask" analogously to a theatrical role, where the actor represents a certain interest or function, and intends by character both "the characteristics of somebody" and "the characteristics of something". Marx's metaphorical use of the term "character masks" refers to carnival masks and the masks used in classical Greek theatre. The issue is the social form in which a practice is acted out.Sophisticated academic language about the sociology of roles did not exist in the mid-19th century. Thus, Marx borrowed from theatre and literature to express his idea. György Lukács pioneered a sociology of drama in 1909, a sociology of roles began only in the 1930s, and a specific sociology of theatre first emerged in the 1960s. Marx's concept is both that an identity appears differently from its true identity, and that this difference has practical consequences. The mask is not a decoration, but performs a function and has effects, even independently of the mask bearer.
The closest equivalent term in modern English is "social mask". However, this translation is inappropriate:
- A "social mask" is a mask of an individual, while Marx's concept of character masks is applied to cases other than individuals, when matters present themselves differently from their true nature. Marxists and non-Marxists have applied it to persons and politicians, groups and social classes, mass media, social movements and political parties, social institutions, organizations and functions, governments, symbolic expressions, historical eras, and dramatic, literary or theatrical contexts.
- The category of "social masks" is much more general and inclusive, and Marx's character masks are a subtype of social mask. They are masks of people and things which represent a social, political, intellectual or economic function, within given social relationships among groups of people.
- Marx's character masks are bound up with a specific type of society at a specific historical time, and with a specific theory of how the social relations in that society function. However, the concept of "social masks" assumes no specific theory, society or historical time. Social masks can be assumed to have existed forever, and are treated as a permanent part of human existence.
"False awareness"
"False awareness", as used by Friedrich Engels, does not refer to errors in the content of awareness. It refers to an absence of awareness of what is behind the ideas being worked with, how they originated, or what the real role or effect of the ideas is. The first result of this is that the ideologists believe they are performing certain intellectual operations with regard to an issue, which, in reality, have a different significance than they expect. The second result is that their intellectual creations can then function as a mask for what is really at stake, as they portray the issue in a one-sided or distorted way – without them being aware of how that works. The ideologists are aware and unaware at the same time. The problem, says Engels, is that they exaggerate the power of ideas, to the point where ideas appear to cause everything that happens. This occurs more often if the intellectual productions are quite distant from the practical context, or if they concern specialized, highly abstract ideas which are difficult to verify.
Levels of masking
Historical
According to Marx and Engels, character masks of an era are the main symbolic expressions of self-justification or apologia, which disguises, embellishes or obscures social contradictions. A mystical truth in this context is a cultural idea which cannot be verified, because it is abstract rather than logical. Mystical truths cannot be tested scientifically, only subjectively experienced.Economic
Marx argues that, as capitalist class society is intrinsically a contradictory system – it contains many conflicting and competing forces – masking of its true characteristics is an integral feature of how it operates. Buyers and sellers compete with other buyers and sellers. Businesses cannot practically do so without confidentiality and secrecy. Workers compete for job opportunities and access to resources. Capitalists and workers compete for their share of the new wealth that is produced, and nations compete with other nations. The masks are therefore necessary, and the more a person knows about others, the more subtle and sophisticated the masks become.A centerpiece of Marx's critique of political economy is that the labour contract between a worker and their employer obscures the true economic relationship. Marx argues that workers do not sell their labor, but their labor power, creating a profitable difference between what they are paid and the value they create for the employer. Thus, the foundation of capitalist wealth creation involves a mask. More generally, Marx argues that transactions in the capitalist economy are rarely transparent – they appear different from what they really are. This is discovered only when the total context in which they occur is examined. Hence Marx writes:
This implies another level of masking, because the economic character masks are then equated with authentic behaviour. The effect in this case is, that the theories of economics masks how the economy actually works, by describing its surface appearance as its real nature. The general principles of economics may appear to explain it, but in reality they do not. The theory is therefore ultimately arbitrary. Either aspects of the economy are studied in isolation from the context in which they occur, or generalizations are formed which leave essential parts out. These distortions are ideologically useful to justify an economic system, position or policy as reasonable, but it is a hindrance to true understanding.
Significance
Masks as mediators of social contradictions
Abstractly, the masking processes specific to capitalist society mediate and reconcile social contradictions, which arise from three main sources:- relations of production, which create and maintain a class-divided society, in which citizens are formally equal under the law but unequal in reality; class interests are represented as the general interest and vice versa. The state formally serves "the general interest" of society, but in reality it mainly serves the general interest of the ruling class, and more specifically what the elite, the polity or the political class considers to be the general interest of society.
- relations of exchange in the marketplace, where buyers and sellers bargain with each other, and with other buyers and sellers, to get the "best deal" for themselves, although they have to cooperate to get it. Supposedly this is a "level playing field" but in reality it is not, simply because some command vastly greater resources than others. The attempt is made to "personalize" otherwise impersonal or anonymous market relationships expressed by transactions.
- the combination of relations of production and exchange, in which competitors have an interest in hiding certain information, while presenting themselves outwardly in the most advantageous way. Specifically, people are placed in the position where they both have to compete and to cooperate with each other at the same time, at a very advanced level, and to reconcile this predicament involves them in masking. This requirement exists in all kinds of types of society, but in bourgeois society it takes specific forms, reflecting the element of financial gain which is involved in the way people are relating or are related.
"Naked self-interest"
This "naked self-interest" seems to contradict the idea of "masking" in bourgeois society. Supposedly market trade creates transparency and an "open society" of free citizens. In reality, Marx and Engels claim, it does not. The "nakedness" may not reveal very much other than the requirements of trade; it is just that the cultural patterns of what is hidden and what is revealed differ from feudal and ancient society. According to Marx, the labour market appears as the "very Eden of the innate rights of man", insofar workers can choose to sell their labour-power freely, but in reality, workers are forced to do so, often on terms unfavourable to them, to survive. As soon as they are inside the factory or office, they have to follow orders and submit to the authority of the employer.
Even in "naked commerce", the possible methods of "masking" what one is, what one represents or what one does, are extremely diverse. Human languages and numerical systems, for example, offer very subtle distinctions of meaning that can "cover up" something, or present it as different from what it really is. Anthropologists, sociologists and linguists have sometimes studied "linguistic masking".
The "masking" of quantitative relationships takes three main forms:
- masking plain computational error;
- masking through a categorization of counting units which hides the real situation, or presents it in a certain light;
- masking through the interpretation of the overall significance of a quantitative result.