Page 101 - Critical and Cultural Theory

SOCIAL IDENTITIES
discussed in the present chapter.) Through its institutions and
rituals, ideology transforms the individual into a social being.
Such a being is a construct, yet it is encouraged to forget that this
is the case and to regard itself as authentic and autonomous.
Ideology thrives on misrecognition. It hails us into existence as
free agents endowed with a centre and with boundaries and fosters
the illusion that the world we inhabit is likewise well-defined and
meaningful. The subject fashioned by ideology is imaginary, for
power only pretends to value it and has no true regard for its
faculties. Power is only concerned with ensuring that the subject
will misrecognize its subordination as self-determination. 6 If
ideology is to be opposed, its reliance on mystification must be
exposed. Humans must recognize that their conditions are consis-
tently misrepresented, that their freedom is illusory and, above all,
that neither individuals nor social formations are as centred and
coherent as ideology claims. Challenging ideology, arguably,
means exposing the decentred character of both reality and subjec-
tivity. The question then arises as to whether this strategy would
actually undermine the status quo. This question has gained
urgency in the context of debates surrounding Postmodernism.
Althusser may have commended a disunified subject as a chal-
lenge to ideology and convinced many of the desirability of this
model. However, we must be aware that in postmodern cultures,
subjectivity is insistently constructed on the basis of disunity.
There you are: watching the World Cup Final with Vivaldi's Four
Seasons playing softly in the background, garbed in a silk kimono
over Calvin Klein's underwear, nibbling tortilla chips with the
accompaniment of alternate sips of Bulgarian Chardonnay and
Lavazza, a semiotic analysis of Taxi Driver resting in your lap,
and a report on the Spice Girls' latest performance draping your
knee, only partly concealing both the roof of the Stephen King
best-seller perched upon it and the nose of the Rottweiler puppy
curled up next to you on the Ikea couch with its pashmina loose
covers.
Although there is no consensus as to the ideological import of
Postmodernism, 7 most critics would probably agree that its forms

6
i*The concepts of the imaginary and of misrecognition are discussed further in
Part II, Chapter 2, 'Subjectivity' with reference to Jacques Lacan.
7
»^See Part III, Chapter 2, The Aesthetic'.
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