Definition: According to Ledwith (p.xiii), Naive Consciousness is, “Freire's concept for partial empowerment which relates to the symptoms of oppression, engaging with single issues rather than the underlying roots of injustice".
Apply: Naive consciousness can be seen when you are working within a community and you are addressing surface level issues and not acknowledging and working through some of the more systemic issues causing the community problems. For example, community developers could enter into a community and assist with getting rid of an abandoned home to get rid of blight in the community. However, getting rid of an abandoned home does not address the issue as to why the house was abandoned in the first place. Perhaps the owners could no longer afford the rent due to gentrification in their community. Therefore, if gentrification is an issue, getting rid of one abandoned house is not going to help with the problem of increasing rent that is causing houses to become abandoned.
Adapt: Naive consciousness could be applied to interpersonal practice where a social worker could assist a male client with a surface level issue of having a fear of talking to women by role-playing situations to try and practice ways in which the client could converse with women. However, if the social worker never talks with the client about why he has a fear of talking with women, such as feeling self-conscious about his physical appearance or a negative experience with a woman that happened in the past, the role-playing will never get to the client’s root cause of the fear. He may feel more prepared on what to say to women he encounters but he will still never approach them due to his self consciousness of his appearance.
Source: Ledwith, M., & Campling, J. (2005). Community development: A critical approach. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.
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