People recognize their subordination even under hegemonic rule

Evidence

The subaltern class does not mistake itself for people who were born with silver spoons in their mouths. They know they are still second on the ladder, somewhere near the bottom. People are not cultural dopes. They are not waiting for the moment when, like an overnight conversion, false consciousness will fall from their eyes, the scales will fall away, and they will suddenly discover who they are. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 259

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explicitly rebuts the false-consciousness model of domination: subjects know their position, so hegemony works not by deceiving them but by interpellating them into projects.
• XREF: Echoes the ‘cultural dopes’ critique central to cultural studies and relevant to how Muslims are portrayed as dupes of ideology in Islamophobia discourse. — connects to: Subordinate classes’ belief in their incapacity helps sustain their subordination. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 498