Consciousness changes with every change in the conditions of material existence, in social relationships and in social life

If people’s consciousness was constant and did not change with the conditions of material existence and social relationships or social life, then religious institutions and religious regimes would not need to impose limitations on social life and conducts and obstruct human consciousness. Their persistence on continuation of their methods simply shows that one does change with the other . On the same account, we may argue that every change in people’s consciousness also will cause change in their material existence, social relationships and social life.
Consciousness determines being through human action, directed by formation of ideas. Consciousness forms ideas and ideas form ideological convictions, which are basis for differences. It is a reflection on surroundings including the state of society. And because social relationships are products of individual reflections of social surroundings, therefore consciousness is a product of history of being, which has not stayed the same.
To hide their true nature and staying in power without having to face much opposition, religious regimes need to suppress people’s consciousness in order to control their actions. This is done by imposing on people false ideas and ideological convictions, influencing social surroundings and by presenting false history.
Religious states further obstruct human consciousness by means of limiting social relationships. They also restrict social life by creating a state of fear. In a country like Iran, where I come from, social relationships and interactions are limited by imposing restrictions on all aspects of social life as well as on the internet and social media.
One example of restriction of social relationships is segregation of the population based on sex and religious as well as political affiliations and ideological beliefs. Government positions and jobs in Iran are only given to those of particular faith (Shiite Islam) who publicly pledge their alliance to the regime and its leader. Schools are also segregated not only based on sex, but also based on religious affiliations. This segregation is recently being even expanded to the universities.
Therefore, Change in social relationships and social life is particularly a big threat to religious totalitarian regimes like the Islamic “Republic” in Iran. Because any change of that sort will weaken the regime’s columns by undermining the role of religion and the clergy in the Iranian society. Monopolizing the authority on social contracts such as marriage by religious institutions is another example of controlling social relationships.
On one hand totalitarian regimes restrict free flow of information to suppress people’s consciousness and on the other hand they try to fill the gap with rhetorical slogans and misinformation and promoting lumpenism among the population. For many years, not only the spread of hatred has been the main point in the official rhetoric through state controlled mass-media in Iran, but also malicious prejudgments about different cultures and peoples are a part of school curriculums. During my high school years we as students were being lined up every morning in the school yard and after forcefully listening to a lengthy propaganda speech, had to repeat chanting of “death to America” and “death to Israel” and death to a few others before being let go to our classrooms.

Marx defines term “‘lumpen’ or ’lumpenprolteriat’ as “segment of the working class that would never achieve class consciousness, and therefore are considered worthless in the context of revolutionary struggle”. According to Marx they consist mainly from “swindlers, confidence tricksters, brothel-keepers, rag-and-bone merchants, beggars”.
Promoting “lumpenism” is one of the dominant characteristics of a religious state. The cycle of obstruction of information and consciousness by religious state leads to intentional creation of an ever-expanding under privileged and uneducated segments of society. Religious state then can mobilize them as its missionaries at its discretion to act as its coercive force to suppress its opponents. Dominant lumpenprolteriat requires lumpen literature of interaction, which is today an accepted norm in the daily political interactions in the media in Iran and also manifests itself in the official views of the state in its international affairs.
Hence to prevent change in social relationships and social life and to manipulate minds and confuse the masses, religious states in their every day affairs resort to their invented way of life based on submission. To preclude people’s consciousness and misrepresentation of the truth they directly control the media to prevent the free flow of information through censorship. They also resort to tampering with the contents of the text books and distortion of history among their other means to redirect people’s mindsets and obstruct their consciousness.
The fact that religion institutions in general and totalitarian regimes in particular throughout the history to the present time have emphasized so much on the control of the material existence and social relationships as well as social life, and in this relentless struggle for power and control, they have not hesitated to resort to any means, from prosecutions to obstruction of science and information, shows that in fact consciousness does changes with every change in the conditions of material existence, in social relationships and in social life.