This is a Marxist concept that suggests that the proletariat (working class) do not recognise that they are being exploited by the bourgeoisie (ruling class) and indeed contribute to their own exploitation. Bourgeois ideology persuades them to think that the interests of the ruling class are in fact the interests of all. Marxist sociologists suggest that the education system is one the institutions which disseminates bourgeois ideology or hegemony and therefore creates false class consciousness.