The primary question at large is whether it is better to be externally influenced on conceptual matters or to be active in the formation of one's ideas and beliefs. The readings of Gramsci from The Prison Notebooks highlights a tension between popular consciousness and critical consciousness. Popular consciousness is a sense of false consciousness, ideas that are imposed by the groups belonging to higher social status, reinforced through historical contexts regarding the realities of the world. Critical consciousness is the individual consciousness that stems from awareness and the formation of one's own autonomous opinions. Individuals who lie in the middle of these oppositions may find themselves performing actions that agree with one perspective, while theoretically believing in another direction.
Similar to phenomenons in psychology, cognitive dissonance is the inconsistency between behavior and beliefs. An effort to mediating this duality requires a shift in the attitudes we hold to our current predispositions. In an attempt to answer the question which is better, we must first realize that society influence and mass consciousness have a large role in the presentation of ideas that are readily accepted. The information that has been so deeply ingrained into our minds depicts the lack of autonomy in our ability to think critically about views. Gramsci argues that advanced thinking stems from original and organic formations of perceptions of reality. Only when we are able to separate and realize the distinction, then are we able to engage in this higher thinking.
A shift in our approach to popular culture can then be used as a tool against the hegemonic oppression imposed in society. Criticism can be transformed into a powerful counter to resistance. The re-evaluation of dominant ideas present in cultures allows for a change in what is readily accepted. A false idea is that once this awareness arises, then the idea of oppression will halt. This is not the case, rather individual consciousness is the process by which political (power dynamics) and culture can be self-determined.
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