Modern science as it emerged in the late nineteenth century expressed deep skepticism about the views and beliefs that everyday people held. From a "scientific” perspective, individuals were seen largely as products of powerful social forces that shaped their views and determined their behavior. Even some of the critical perspectives that we have discussed positively in this book held this view. For example, the Marxist could hold that the working class was subject to "false consciousness," or misrecognition of its true interests due to the distorting effects of capitalist ideology.