Character mask

In Marxist philosophy, a character mask (German: Charaktermaske) 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 (imitative representation using analogies) and prosopopoeia (impersonation or personification), and the Roman concept of persona,^[1] but also differs from them.^[2] Neo-Marxist and non-Marxist sociologists,^[3] philosophers^[4] and anthropologists^[5] 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.

^ A famous anthropological essay on the idea of the "persona" is Marcel Mauss, "A category of the human mind: the notion of person, the notion of 'self'." in: Mauss, Sociology and psychology: essays. Translated by Ben Brewster. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979. See, for a recent discussion of the concept of persona: Marta Cecilia Betancur García (Universidad de Caldas), "Persona y máscara", Praxis Filosófica, Nueva serie, no. 30, January–June 2010: pp. 7–16. Praxi.univalle.edu.co Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine
^ The Greek concept of prosopon, meaning "the face", literally is "that which is set before the eyes", and thus also refers to "a mask" (John Mack (ed.), Masks: the art of expression. London: British Museum, 1994, p. 151). In Greek theatre, the function of the mask was impersonate a character. In post-Freudian psychology, by contrast, the mask is a metaphor for the external self, concealing the reality within (ibid., p. 151-152, 157).
^ The neo-Marxists referring to character masks were especially those of the Frankfurt School, such as Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer. For a non-Marxist approach to character masks, see Anthony Giddens, The constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.
^ See: Alasdair Macintyre, After Virtue. University of Notre Dame Press, 2007, pp. 27–35, 109–110; Peter Sloterdijk, Critique of Cynical Reason. Verso, 1988, p. 37.
^ E.g. Lawrence Krader, David Graeber

[1] A famous anthropological essay on the idea of the "persona" is Marcel Mauss, "A category of the human mind: the notion of person, the notion of 'self'." in: Mauss, Sociology and psychology: essays. Translated by Ben Brewster. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979. See, for a recent discussion of the concept of persona: Marta Cecilia Betancur García (Universidad de Caldas), "Persona y máscara", Praxis Filosófica, Nueva serie, no. 30, January–June 2010: pp. 7–16. Praxi.univalle.edu.co Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine

[2] The Greek concept of prosopon, meaning "the face", literally is "that which is set before the eyes", and thus also refers to "a mask" (John Mack (ed.), Masks: the art of expression. London: British Museum, 1994, p. 151). In Greek theatre, the function of the mask was impersonate a character. In post-Freudian psychology, by contrast, the mask is a metaphor for the external self, concealing the reality within (ibid., p. 151-152, 157).

[3] The neo-Marxists referring to character masks were especially those of the Frankfurt School, such as Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer. For a non-Marxist approach to character masks, see Anthony Giddens, The constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.

[4] See: Alasdair Macintyre, After Virtue. University of Notre Dame Press, 2007, pp. 27–35, 109–110; Peter Sloterdijk, Critique of Cynical Reason. Verso, 1988, p. 37.

[5] E.g. Lawrence Krader, David Graeber

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