Page 63 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

Ideologies 47

side by side. The forces that threaten rural conservatives consist of eco-
nomic rules that allocate them very little in regard to material resources
and educational capital. Because one aspect of their victimization consists
of a failed educational system that does not prepare them to see the world
accurately, complexly, and critically, they react to those forces without the
help of trained intelligences that are capable of critical analysis, and as a
result, they react with violence. The most successful ruse of right - wing
ideology in the US consists of directing attention away from the root and
real causes of the economic distress that makes the lives of rural conserva-
tives so crimped and painful, and turning it against such things as the
United Nations and liberalism, potential solutions to the very economic
inequality that is the root cause of the suffering of rural conservatives. The
examination of how such ideologies work is important given recent human
history, since such ideologies have in the past (Germany in the 1930s, for
example) led to highly destructive wars.
Ideology defined as mistaken cognition is common in societies such as

the US that are characterized by high levels of economic inequality that

must somehow be justified to participants in the society. The US has an
extremely high level of inequality, yet people accept it even though they do
not benefit. Why is that the case? Scholars of Cultural Studies vary in their

approach to this problem. Some argue that Americans are distracted
from accurate perception by the endless, ongoing experience of television,
driving, and shopping in malls. To watch endless commercials on television
is to allow oneself to be subjected to relentless propaganda that distracts
one from seeing the wizard behind the curtain, the economic machinery
that requires the shaping of minds and perceptions so that people assist,
apparently voluntarily, in the construction of the very economic pyramid
that is counter to their interests. By continuing to work and buy, we
provide the lift that those at the pinnacle of the economic pyramid, the
small minority that garners a lot of wealth from all of our combined eco-
nomic activities, need in order to stay at the top. And by staying at the top,
they push everyone else down simply through the “ natural, ” “ automatic ”
operations of the economy.
Others argue that the media shape perceptions so that the society is
perceived as being driven by striving individuals rather than social groups
that might be said to share a “ class ” interest, such as corporate executives

or bankers or business groups who benefit inordinately more than workers
from the way the economy works. Other scholars note that certain ideas
that are current in other cultures such as France are not current here. Those