Page 56 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

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Ideologies

The word ideology has several meanings in Cultural Studies. An ideology
is a body of ideas that license, enable, and direct social action. The ideology
of racism, for example, provides a coherent set of beliefs and reasons that
justify social or physical violence against another ethnic group. The argu-
ments and word images in the ideology portray the other ethnic group as
lacking qualities that would make them meritorious, qualities supposedly
present in the racist group. For example, some conservative Whites in the
United States vilify other ethnic groups such as African Americans and
Hispanics. The Whites portray themselves as hardworking and industrious
and portray Blacks and Hispanics as lazy freeloaders who steal jobs from
Whites or who oblige Whites to support them through government assist-
ance funded by taxation imposed on Whites.
Ideology also refers to mistaken cognition that prevents us from seeing
reality as it is. Ideology in this sense describes the way social groups who
have over - accumulated economic resources maintain their power by
imposing on society frames of understanding and perception that prevent
the true nature of the society from being seen and discussed. For example,
we are taught to perceive ourselves as “ individuals ” in American culture
rather than as members of an economic class, and as a result, we have a

difficult time seeing society in terms of relations between economic groups.
The fact that one small group over - accumulates social wealth can thus be
portrayed as the result of “ individual initiative ” instead of being seen as a
manifestation of a class structure. Any attempt to draw attention to such
realities will be branded “ class warfare ” and dunned in the right - wing
media as inappropriate speech that is outside the “ mainstream. ”
Ideology also consists of what are called “ ruling ideas ” . These are ideas
that ruling social groups force into a position of centrality in a culture.
The ideas generally reinforce the power of the ruling group by making