Page 92 - Critical and Cultural Theory

CHAPTER I

IDEOLOGY

The term ideology was coined by the French philosopher Destutt
de Tracy to describe the science of ideas: that is, the discipline that
would enable people to recognize their prejudices and biases. The
concept of ideology can be used, as Karl Marx (1818-83) and
Friederich Engels (1820-95) did in The German Ideology, to chal-
lenge the notion that ideas could ever develop independently of
the political and economic contexts in which they are formulated.
Ideology, in this respect, designates culturally determined bodies
of ideas meant to advance the interests of certain social groups,
often to the detriment of others (Marx and Engels 1974). This
chapter examines various definitions of ideology with reference to
Marxist and Post-Marxist theory. Examples are drawn from the
writings of Marx and Engels, of members of the Frankfurt School
(Adorno, Horkheimer, Benjamin), of Georg Lukacs and of
Antonio Gramsci. The chapter then looks at theories of ideology
overtly influenced by Poststructuralism, with particular attention
to Louis Althusser and Michel Foucault. This part contains cross-
references to the essay on 'Subjectivity' (Part II, Chapter 2), since
both Althusser and Foucault have, in different ways, indicated
that ideology aims primarily at the construction of individuals and
collectivities as subjects.
Marxist and Post-Marxist theories investigate the issue of
ideology with a focus on one fundamental question: why do
people accept and internalize conditions which they know to be
disadvantageous? Relatedly: why do people end up investing in
their own unhappiness and put up with oppression because of the
marginal pleasures this may bring with it? In seeking to answer
these questions, critics and philosophers have proposed various

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