Ideology and Modern (

Critical Social Theon iii the Em JAI,zss (Jvni,,wduiv,,

John B. thompson
SI;int ci Lni crsil IiCN
Still lord ( Jhlorn.
 Contents
Preface
- lnttoducnon
I The Concept ofideology
Ideology and the Ideologues 2)
Marxs Conceptions of Ideology 3
From Ideology to the Sociology of Knowledge 44
Rethinking ldeoio$v: A Critical Concepnon
Reply to Some Possible Objections
hj, [P r t[H d]flhILL1 2 Ideology in Modern Societies
I3is ] L ce]], (lxford A Critical Analysis ofSome liieore,ical Accounts
i blisi LI LC U.S. A. by Ideology and the Modern Era
d L -I m-crs
ideol and Sci a! Reproduction 85
The Critique ni the CWnire Industry
The Transforn,arion of the Public Sphere
-C -
3 The Concept olCulture
Culmre and Civilization [24
Anthropological Conceptions of Culture 127
Rethinking Culture: A Sn-ucrural Conception 33
The Social Conrextualization of Symbolic Forms
The Valorization oi SymboLic Forms 54
to (.;flients
-, Cuitural Transmission and Mass Communication
7 I.)etLpmenr at the ,ltedia 1ndusths
Aspucts oI Cultural Trar,sni,ssion
Wrinug Printing and die Rise of die Trade in News
FL I evc it era of Broadcasthg
tcc ej r Fri rids in hr Media md Utfl
ihc ti itt, parr; I Ne Co runlu ntcaroti Techn
Ioies
Towards a Social Theory of Mass cozmnuuication
( jara,. tcrisnt. s of Mass Communication
Mass jlnrnurucat,nhi and Socia Interaction
Itecorisatutitig the Boundaries between Public and Private Life
Mass Coronianicadon between Market and State
Redi inking Ideoogy iii the Era of Mass Communication
The Methodology oflncerpretadon
Somi Hcrnwneu rica Conditions of SocialHistoi*al inquiry
Ihe Merhodiiogica Framework of Depth E-Iermcneucics
[hr i r tcrprcra ion o ldeo ogy
.nai sing Mass Cotnnmnication: The Tripastire Approach
fl:c Etcry dr Appropz-ianon of MassMediated Products
Inierpittarion, SelfRcllecnou and Critique
lthhflh LflC:d Theory arid Modern Socencs
(.1
163
164 Preface
171
.82
293
205
2)6
218 This book is a development oi the ideas which were ininall skcrc lied i
11 lit
225 e,ilier volume S:l4dies in the ieoq of Ide,l. I he earher voucric
238
concerned primarily with the critical assessment oh number ofouTsrandillg
248 contributions to conrenporary social theory. hi the course of that assessment
264 I put forward sonic coriscrudove ideas about tile nature and role ofideologv.
im relation to language, power and social context, and die ways in which
ideology can he analysed and nrerpreted in specific cases. Mv air! in this
272
book is to rake up these ideas, to develop them and incorporate them into a
systematic theoretical account This is an account which is certainly
274
informed by rile work of others other theorists as well as others engaged iii
277
291 empirical arid historical research But I have tried to go bevoiid the maternal
upon which I draw and to which I ant indebted, iii an attempt to stretch die
303
nisnng harneworks of anaysis and ro provide some stirn&us to hirther
313
reflection and research.
320
While in many ways this book is a continuation ofthe project announced
in Srmdies, there is one respect In winch it diffrrs significantly born the earlier
voiunle: in this book I have sought to give much more attention to the soda)
332 forms and processes within which and by nicans of which, symbohc (omit
circulate in the social world. I have therefore devoted considerable space it
353
the nature arid development of mass communication, which I regard as a
definitive feature of modern cuLture and a central dimension of modern
societies. My analysis of the nature of mass conununicarion and ot die
development of media institutions raises more issues thati I can adcquatdv
address within the scope of tIns book, but they are issues which I plan je
pursue further in a subsequent volume on social theory and mass
communication
In thinking about the ideas thscussed in ibis book. I have beref,icd Irons
the comments and criticisms of others. Anihon Gidderis and David Held
deserve particular mention: hey have been parniers in an ongoing diaiogue
 doubt irj LonOnue to hc, irvaluahlc, Peter Burke.
cIr GnoJio.,!i Henricrta Moore and William C)titl,waire read an earlier
ul ibis F x arid gave mc a great dca of helpful and encouraging
cd back, am
.ioccssing to (] Iran
also ateful to v ed Synionds ftr her kiIfiul word Introduction
Brondey tot her med c&i 0 us copyediting, and to the
V peop Ii: -a HI ,ickwwIl. P [iry and Stan i, rd U iversiry Pres who have
,rrtt, t1L. pt-rd-actor, i.d diiu,oj, il this text F,n}h. I should like
it ;no ri course o the last coupie I years. have
hook to bc -ritri1: their gerierosir) has
u-i -. d;. . o- uord or ackunclcdgci,cnr might
13.] (;ainbridge, Pt cember 989 Today we l,ve iii a world in which the erended circilanon of syinbou
forms plays a fundamental and everincreasing role. all Societies the
production and exchange of symbolic forms of linguistic expressions.

gestures, actions, works c,fart -and so on is. and has always been, a pervas

feature a
1 cia
& 1 life. But wi iii the advent of itiodern so c OCS. prope led by
the de ci up nien C of cap;ralisin In egil v modern Iii Fc;pr [lie nail] c ii:
extent ol the circulanor, of symbolic fornis rook or a fleA and qualican e,
difkrent appearance. Technical means s crc developed sinc!i. n col
junction with insrirurioiis orientated towards capta1 accurijularion. niablcj
symbolic forms to be produced. reproduced and c,rculared in a lnrIwj to
unprecedented scale, Newspaptn, pamph]ers and books were produced
increasing 9U and ties throughout the even teenth, eighteenth and r,inetee,i
centuries; and, from the runetceoth century on, the expanding means of
production and circulation were accompanied by signiicatzt increases in
levels of ltcraq in Europe and elsewhere. so that printed materials could he
reail by a growing proportiOn of tile populaflor. 1 irse deveopiiiems in
what is conimoiily called r.iass communicanon received a further is73petu
from advances in the eecrncal codification and transn ii sson of svmh, lit
torus. advatices vhich ha e given us the varieties ut electronic ide
con,inunicariorr caracceriscic oi rite tare twentieth tenturv In
Wesrerri ndustrml societies today, adults spend on average herween 25 and
30 hours per week watching [ejevision aid this is in addition to whatevet

time they spend listening to the radio or stereo, reading newspapers, books
and magazines, and consuming other products of what have become large
scale, transnational media industries. Moreover, there arc few societies itt
the world today which are jot touched by the insnru forts and inecha is ii
ol mass con, ijunicadon, a rid hence which arc nor open to the circulation
inassmedi a red svri,jlic kr,ts.
Despite the growing s igni tcance ofi ia s> col lununicanc iii the iiicJc P
 2 I eta is
Jniroduaiz 3
world, its alaw re and it pIiCatiOILS have received ida tively little attentloil
in ideoiogy also suffers Era rn certain [imi rations. Most I rflportantiv, tile W .9 [cr5
the it L-tatu L C iisoaal and polincal henry. to sonic cx rent chi neglect is due who have concerned themselves with problems of ideology have Iicd to
n,.l scs 2 i r, d va i ni of ak., ui: social and poll tical theorists have been deal adequately with the nature and impact of mass communication ii
coo rcnr, iarir kerd v Ii any view, to leave the study of mass communicanon modern world. Sonic of these writers have certainly acknowledge d chc
nd a and cc ijinut catsons recarch. To me extent this importance o mass comInuncanon indeed, the were aiiong tIlt- hr
tteg,irct is-also a consequence o
51
1 the fact that rile problems which preoccupy social and political thconsts to call attention to the growing role oldie ilass
rn-any theorists t-oday arc a legacy of nineteenth and early twentiethcentury media. But even these writers tended to take a rather dim view of the nature
thought. li is the writings of Marx and Weber, of Durkheirn, Simmel, and impact of mass communication. They were inclined to regard the
Ma cit iris n all LI other which have, in many respects, the aen for deveiopmenc of mass communication as the emergence ofa new inethanicin
set ia
cuntcmporsn dteoretial debates Ofcourse, the legacy of these and of social control in modern societies, a mechanism through which the ideas
other
Cr s no raccessard v a in ilisrone. As conunenrators tm the social of dominant groups could be propagated and diffused, and through wlich
tra I ..torinaiii and poh Deal upheavals which accompanied the develop the consciousness of subordinate groups could be manipulated and
mciii of industrial capitalism, these thinkers called attention to a range contTolled. Ideology was understood as a kind of social cement, and
of
social phenomena, and elaborareJ a series of concepts and theories which communication was viewed as a parricuiarly efficacious mechanisiri for
I-en as ide v ac in rijal ways to the circumstances oi the lace twentieth spreading the glue. This general approach to the rebnon between ideology
I i. But here uric rs Insigli r and ill u ,ninarion. there is also blindness, and mass cominurilcanon is one which I shall criticize ut detail. It is all
ovcc_ ii ipli tic at an, wishful pn nusm. Pat r of tile cask that confronts social approach which has. explicitly or implicitly, moulded niany of thr recenr
ui ii icorisr today i ri ft rhxciugh tilts Iegac> and to scek to contributions to the ongoing debate about ideology and its role in modern
dCICnTIILUC siar aspecr can be and should be retained, and how these aspects societies, as well as sonic of the attempts to reflect theoretically on the nature
can he recousti-ucced to cake account of the changing
character of modern and impact of mass communication. And yet it is. in my view, an approach
In coufronring social and political phenomena we do not begin which is fundamentally flawed.
wi F a ct to rn I: e pproach these phenoniena in the light of the concepit One afmy central aims in this book is to elaborate a difkrent account o 1
rid riieoiEc s hai; ila been handed do n from dir past, arid we seek in the relation between ideology and mass communication or, to put it more
rn hc or replace. crIncIze or reconstruct, dine concepts and theories precisely, to rethink the theory of ideology n rhelightof the developtitenc of
in thu I Iglir o he devcloprxienrs WhICh are raking ace in our midst. mass communication. In pursuing this aim I shall adopt a threestage
1
p
hi he following chapters 1 shall take as my starring point the concept and argumentative strategy. I shall begin by reconsidering the history of [lie
theory of ideology. A notion which first appeared in lace eighteen rhcentury concept of ideology, retracing its main contours and its occasional detours.
Fr-ancc, the concept of ideology has undergone many transformatio ns in the Against the backcloth of this brief analytical history, I shall formulate a
ci ru r;c s, nc cthe,: It has been r isred, retdrii, ulated and recasq it has particular conception of ideology which preserves something of the legacy
been akcn uj- by SOCIal and political analysts and incorporated into the of this concept while dispensing with assumptions which seem to me
em rr:- r;g ia c Ut SCS at the sc Ieticfla and it has filtered back into the untenable. I shall then examine some of the general theoretical accounts
CVer day languAge of social and political life. If! which have been put forward in recent years concerning the nanire and role
take the concept and theory
olade- Ilogy -as my starring point it is because I believe that there is something of ideology in modern societies. I shall argue that these accounts are
worthwhile, al Id worth s Lislaimng, n the tradition ot reflection which has inadequate in numerous respects, particularly with regard to their treattncnt
beer roFicrsaed win idcolo,-. Mrbough there is much that is misleading of mass communication and m significance for the cheor, of ideology.
and ii tick) rFtaa s erroneous in this ci adidun. we can nevertheless distil from In order to overcome this deficiency, we must shift the focus ofaiialysis
rc,!dLcoftruhje,i r winch retain their relevarce and urgen tay. The this is the second stage of my argumentative sifareg?. I shall argue that we
coneepi and theory of ideology detine a terrain of analysis which must elaborate a theoretical framework which enables us to understand [lie
central to the ronceniporary social sciences and which forms the site of distinctive characteristics of mass coimimnicarion and the distinctive course
conn IUOUS and lively theorencal debate. of irs development The key to this framework is what I shall call the
I I; 1
i I be ccrned to argue. however, that the etad non of reflection ciii
Oil medjazation ofmuden, culture. By this I mean the general process by which the
 ftc
tra! isi fission of symbol jorins becomes uicreasiiigly mediated the
by which define the approach that I advocate and which underlie my criticisms
technical and institutional apparatuses of the media industries. We live in of, and indicate my indebtedness to, the work of othcrs,
societies today which the production and reception ofsymbolic fomis is
ifli-ci, Iciglv diared by a coinplea. trans-intiona l network of institutional
I Ice apiorLnon 0! this process invokes several conderarions. The concept and Theory of Ideology
.1 :pc uaily iisus; examine the nature of symbolic 1 orms and their
s di canrcxn w th iii s-hcc h the are pruccd, aansmitred When we employ the term ideology, whether in social and poiinca aikars
and r ccci ved, a ii exarnin a non which lajis within the domain tradinonally
or in the discourse ofeveryday life. we draw upon a cant ept which has a long
denijrcared by the concept of culture. Historically, we must reconstruct the and complicated history. Parr of the reason why this concept is so ambiguous
development ol sonic of rile technical titans of transmission and of
the today, ha, so many different uses and shades of meaning, is because the
ins? ru aol iaI {rnks wichi which these technical means have been, arid
concept has travelled a long and circuitous route since it was introduced into
Cut rcii ci I iu ,dcpi uvcd Theot c flLl I>, we ii usr reflect on the nawre ol European languages two cenrur.es ago: the inulnplicirv of meanings which it
gcnrrai proL cs of nell azafloti, rs impact on social and polidcd iiie in
displays today is a producr of this historical itinerary. but there is a further
zhc nadern world, its implications for sciai and ilitical thry in general,
factor which exacerbates the ambiguity oldie concept of ideology. When wc
ci edi c (ideoLogy in particular. use the term ideoogv today. or when v e hear r used by others, we nay nor
[he final stage of my argumentative strategy is an the level ofmethodo be entirely sure whether it is being used descriptively or prescriptively,
ogy. litre my concern is to draw out the methodological implications of whether it is being used simply to describe state of affairs (e.g. a system of
the
conceptual and theoretical arguments developed in earlier chapters. and to political ideas) or whether it is being used also, or perhaps even primarily, to
sho that tLics arun-wrLrs, however abstract they may stein, make evaluate
a a stare of affairs. This ambiguity is evident in our everyday use ofthe
ntis pracni e ioclt In the practice olsocial researcb, and in the ways term, Few people today would proui

y proclaim themselves to he idea
1
nut v. undersciid the rejanon between the practice of social research, on logis& whereas many would nor hesitate to declare that they were
hand. acid the everyday practices ofrhe Lndlviduais who make up the consen-acivec or socialists, liberals or democrats, feminists or ecologists. ide-.
50cc a torid, oi the other, in punning these nierhodologi Cal issues, I try no ology is the thought ofrhe other, the thought of someone other than oneseW
site; what is involved in the analysis olsynibolic forms in general, and in
the To characterize a view as ideological is, it seems, already implicitly to criti
analysis of massmediated symbolic forms in particular. Drawing on my cize it, for the concept of ideology seems to convey a negative, critical sense.
refot i unlaced concepflon of ideology. I also attempt to show how this
In the literature olsocial and political theory of the last two decades or so.
nwuucdolotncal framework can be employed for the analysis of ideology. there have been two common responses to the ambiguous heritage d die
These nicriiodoiogica:- reflet.tioim art tar intended to replace or displace concept olideology. One response has been ran-v to tame the concept. This
elilpIrical research nothing could he jurther from my intention. Rather,

has generally involved the attempt. explicit or implicit, no strip the concept
rre arc oilered is snnuius to emplrica research and as a contribution to of its negative sense and to incorporate it into a coqiuc of descnprve
our Dt ersranJtIl of wha is involved in studying an object domain wlch concepts employed by nbc social sciences. This has given rise to what may be
COflsl5 of, aniong other things, subjects who
produce, receive and called a neutral conception of ideology. According no this conception,
understand symbolic rms as a routine part of their everyday lives ideologies can be regarded as systems of thought, systems of beliefor
Ii iollcwing through with this argumentative strategy, I shall deveLop
a symbolic systems which pertain no social action or political practice. No
cc ctccIcti proposals concerning ideology. culmre, attempt is made, on nbc basis of this concepnon, to disnnguish bet cen the
:unrciticn.arieci, rirerpreranon and critique. My hope is that these proposals kinds of action or projects which ideology aniimates ideology is present in
const,turc a coicet-etir and plausible approach to a range of issues, both even- political programme and is a feature of evefl organized political
,cc re tcai arid tc cc tliaaofogtca I, which ste Central
to current debates in movement- Armed with this conception, the analyst can seek to del,nearc
ocia) and poii n a theory, and in the social scwnces generally In
the and describe the major systems of thought or belief which animate social and
remainder of dim lmroducnon, I shall concentrate on these constructive political action. This line of inquiry is thus exemplified by the tendency to
piopocils. I shall aim to render expiicir some of the ideas and assumptions
think of ideologies in terms of isms conservatism, conirnunism,
 6 1 in) ucrio n
7
Rc.gaiii i ii. lb aicherm, Stalinisin. Masxism. these and other system shall argue that the concept of ideology cal be used to ruler o the wvs u
s of
bcLxe, there ideohigies. tan bc categorized and analysed, broken which meaning serves, in patricular circu,nstancvs, to establish and sslsrasn
down Iwo i-heir consuruent elements and traced back relations ofpower which are systematically asynuitetrical what I shall call
to their original
S)UrCCS; and all this can be done,

the analyst woud claim, without making or relations of domination. Ideology, broadly speaking, is meanin in the service
j udgcin:n t oncerni ng tile systems ol thought or
ins c ofpower. Hence the study of idecAogy reiuires us to investigate the wan
which meaning is constructed and conveycd by symbolic forms of varIou
A cct re nst :0 ole ambiguous heritage of the concept of kinds, from everyday linguistic utterances to complex images and texts; it
ideology
ha been to dispnse sidi the concepc The concep t is simply requires us to investigate the social contexts within which symbolic trrn
too ambig uous,
and dritfl ted, too deeply
L
narred by a history in which it arc employed and deployed; and it calls upon us to ask whether, and iso
liLitied back and forth as term of abuse, to be salvag ed reday how, the meaning mobilized by synibolic forms serves, iii specific contexts.
for
die purpnc-s of ocial arid poltncal analysi& in recent years to establish and sustain relatio ns
this respon se has of domin ation. The distinc tivenes s ci tilt
gained giound among sonic of the most origina l and swdy of ideology lies in die latter question; it calls upon us to ask whethe
percep tive social r
thinkers, partly as a result of the intellectual demise of Marxis the meaning constructed and conveyed by symbolic forms serves. or does riot
m, with which
tn con Cc pt ol iacoho gv has bccn closely linked . But serve, to maintain systematically asyrnmerdcal relations of power It calls
this respon se, it seems to
tnt IU riicr than sifting throug h dir anibig uous heritage and upon us to study syniboiic forms in a certain Ijlu: in the light of the
1 re vheriier there is a residue worthy oi being sustained. strucrured stial relations which their employment or deployment itlay
di s response p tIers to aba,i don, or more commo serve, in specific clrcunistances, to create, nourish, support and reproduce.
nly refuses to begin, the
searc, Rather than asking whed Cr the traditio n of reflect If we reformulate the concept of ideology in this way, we bring the
ion associa ted with
the Concept of dcoloiv has iugMighited range a proble ms which analysis oltdcology into a domain of conceptual and methodological issues
of contin ue
cdesen our attention, CVCH if t las also obscured these proble which is of more general scope and significance. The analysis of ideology can
ms with
110.1 cading and untenable assiiiri
pnoiis, this respon chooses to drop the
se be regarded as an integral pnt ala broader concern with the characteristics
question or, more frequently, presumes an aimwe of action and interaction, the forms of power and domination, the nature of
r while avoiding the
I rizc
lecz u.sh labour involved in trying to determine it.
4 social structure, social reproduction and social change, the atnres of
positio n I deseop herr differs from these two common responses to symbolic forms and their role, in social life- This broader concern anIniate
die .inib;giou heritage of die concepr the arguments and proposals which I develop throughout this bock. Sonic of
of ideology. Unlike the second
responsc. maintain that the concept of ideology remain the wsder issues are pursued in chapter 3, where I examine some of the
s a useful and
important r2otien in die intellectual vocabulary of social and features of symbolic forms and explore their relation to social contexts
political
aiialvsis But unlike the first response. I argue that the concep cannot which are structured in various ways. Other issues of a general methodo
t be so
readily snipped ot its negauv e. critical sense Or. more I logical character are discussed in chapter 6, where I consider what is involved
precise ly. argue that
ii a ttcn cp fl, Co Sm t ot negativ e sense, ri studying Zr object domain which sat the same tine
its one overlo oks a duster of a subject domain in
problems to which the concept, in some of irs guises, sought to which individuals produce, receive and understand symbolic forms char are
call our
atTention is tins cluster of pr eblertis that I ny meaningful for them as well as for the analyst who seeks to interpret them,
to bring out in my reforrnu
of die concept of ideologv Since do not tn to By reformulating the concept of ideology in tenrn of the interrelations cf
elimin ate the negativ e
en>c of tin- conicpt hu rather take this sense index of the meaning and power we are invited and required to pursue these broader
as an proble ms to
whIch tile concept Telers, as an aspect Winch Cal] issues, In this book I cannot claim to have addressed these broader issues rn
be retaine d and creanv ely
developed, this aformulauon nay be regarded as a critical conception all the detail and with all the rigour that they demand. Ar most I have
ofideol
It preserves the nc&an ve connot ation which has been convey ed by the indicated a path that car,, I beheve. be coherently and plausibly pursLled
i-pt t I rougllunt most of i history and binds the analys The proposed reformulation of the concept of ideology enables us to
is of ideology to
the questi:ii of critique avoid a number a 1 tendencies which vitiate much of die recent theoretical
reibrmulanng the concept of ideolog y. I seek to refocu s this concep t on literature. In the first place, it enables us to avoid the tendency, alluded to
a chister of problems concerning the interrelations of meaning and power. earlier, to view ideology as a kind of social cement which succeeds in
I
 lntrociuenr, n
hi (1! einctgt,,; 9
c:cl c, b b.rJii:g their meriibcrs togeth er and provid ing them parties, pressure groups. etc.) which occupy
the space coniin onlv rcterrc -I to
iarcd val tics aid i ornt, This asun Ipflull N pefl231 ye 0 as lincs in niodern Societies, are exttcrriel nip (talic I tes ti cA
the ontci ilporar y iteraflire. and yet it is based on assum domination; but they are hoe the only sires, nor even necess
Cl
pdons winch are arij, the most
dubious and probably untenable, Therc is little eviden important sites for most
ce to suggest that people most of the tine. For lost peop lt. chic
Un LChet:s are shared by all (or even most) menib ers of modern relations of power and domin ation
rdi,srna o-c. er c-. Mo reovcr. there which affect TIICJJI most tlirecrl are chose
is little reason to uppoe that the characteristic oldie social conrex cs within which they live
srab;hty ot complex industrial ut their n crtdav
ociecie s require s and depends upon a lives: the home, the workplace, the classro om, tile
consensus concerning particular values and norms. In peer gi imp. These ale the
so far as our societies contexts within which individuals spend the bulk of their tin, etc
ate srable social orders, this ring and
StalDiliT> couldj nsr as easily be the outcon ie ola interacting, speaking and listening, pursuing their
alms and
a va ucs amid hchet, a prolife folnwi iig the
ranon of divisio ns betwee n aims ofothers. These contexts are organized in compl ex ways. They
Ii tI viauih and groups, a lack involv e
of consensus at the very point where inequalities and asyntnietties olpower and resources, some
opposiflonal attu des might be translated into politic ul which uiav be
al action. In stressing linked to broader inequalities and asrnn,ctries hicIi recur
his pt mt to not wish to sugcst char there is no room jot the from one
social anaLysis context to anothe r, and which concer n, the relatio ns betwee
tics amid c, or ins. But i w ili to prise
n nicir and
the cci icept of ideolog apart from women, between blacks and whites , betwee n those with wealth arid
tIle crrvely propcr q
shared al ues, edirect i ng ii toward s the study of and those without. In studying ideolo gy we are concer
rho complex ways in which meaning is mobilized for the ned as muLti with the
mainrcuance of contexts ofeveryday life as we are with that specific see ofiristitutions
relanoras ol domir,atior.u wInch
comprises the sphere olpolitics in tile narrow sense. Ofcour se, th
1 c pm pcscd rerorniumatiol: a ko cnbin us to avoid the cende does
ncy. mean that the sphere of politics in the narrow sense is irrelev atie.
cue torawre, co hik of nor does it
ideo o a a chaiac tetistic or abut e meal, that we should focus exclusively on the n,inute derails
of cc rtam sym nboli c firms or symbolic ofese da- i&.
system s as such (conse rvatism , ignoring broader structural features arid constraints., it rni-ans
coin rnunis in, etc.. From the approach I develo ony that we
p here, t follow s that should not neglect the ways in which symbolic fornis are emplo
,rms or s in boi,c ,ystenis arc not ideological in
yed and
ic
themselves: deployed, and the ways in which they intersect with relations
c n.:il-r r,ac cure dc-alt gicaL and
of povcr, in
the extelsi to which they are depend on die the su-ucrured social contexts within which most of us spcnd most nI
ways in wl,ich diey are used our
and unders tood in specifi c social contex ts. In time.
studying ideology we are not concer ned simply with If we reformulate the
cacego rizing arid concep t of idcolog y in terms of the interpl ay of
aua L SIfl .1 S i StCL of r or c
1
hA E nor with meaning and power, we can
anah sing a symbo lic form also avoid the tenden cy. ciimn, on in the
cci L nd for tseif. Rat hen e are concer ned with sonw ofwhat theoretical literature as weH as in everyd ay usage. to think of ideology as pure
oulti be c..iiied she stmaal u.tS of symbo ik forms. We are concer ned with illusion, as an inverted or distorted image of what real.
is This view draws
whether, to wat extent and how (ifar all) symbolic forms serve inspiration from a famous and oftquoted passag
to establish e in which Marx and Erigels
and so stain telati its of dottu nation t n the social contexts wirbi is which they compare the operation oFideolozv to the workin
rep.. t,duced. trausriurted and received. This gs ofa Lamer. obscur a, which
approa ch may Lead us to regard represents the world by means of an image
turned upside down.
ni>oi tonrI K s1cTh as ideological in one hut this
con text and as radical , view appealing in its simplicity, alarming in its theoretical selfc

subversive, conrestacory in anorher it may lead us regard onfldcnce
to a discou rse on is likely to lead us astray. Jr inclines us to chink
his malt ng Its, In instance, as supportive ci the scans quo in one contex

of ideology as a realm of
images or ideas which reflects inadequately
t and a social reality that exists prior to
LtOvcrL VQ I U ailatuier. The aria ysis of symbo and independently of these
lic thrins as ideological images or ideas. Yet die social world is rarely as
I quirec u ic. ana]ysc dine torns
in relation to the specific socialhistorical simple as this view would sugges t. As individ uaLs we are immersed in sets of
contexts wiclnn which they arc employ ed and take hold. social relations and we are consta ntly involv ed En conunenting upoti them,
Far diet, the proposed reform ulation of the concep t enabLe s us en avoid in representing them to ourselves and others,
in enacting, recreating and
di ink cit ideology solely or even priniar ily in relatio n to the transforming them through actions, symbols and
,urns of p-.iwcr that are inscitticioiiali words. The symbo lic forms
zed in the niern stare. The inSfltU through whirii we express ourselves and undentand others do not ColiSf lrute
nOmis at the modern stale and the mi umert ius other organizanous sonic ethereal other world which stands opposed to what is real: rather,
(political they
 U inzroducrivn
1tIrrudi4cr,t,
,rtia t flitive :1 what. ri our socIcn es. is real. By refocusing the rationalization of social lift. As religion arid magit lost Elicit hoJ
rud of idir cgv on -Jie terrain o 1 situate d symbo lic forms, on hid nd
on the ways in uals caught up in the restless activity of capitalist iiidusc
-
i h sy nibohc i Ifl5 are used to establish and sustain
relations of power, riiiari on, th
ground was prepared for the emergence of a new kind of
WC it stud ving an aspect 0 f social life which is as real as any other. belief sysreirr fh
For socIal the emergence of secular belief system s which could
lift , to some exwiIt, a field of conrestation in which itiobili ze individuals
strugg le cakes place without reference to ocherworl dly value, or
trirougn words and symboL as wcl[
as through the beings -It s these secLilar beIel
use of physic al force. systems which some conremporary theoris ts describ
dcdug in the stiisc which I propose and develop here, e as ideolo gies. In Elicit
is an integra l part of 4iew, the development of industrial captralisin gave
this struggle; it is a creative and coosritunve feature of a social rise to an age ox
life which is ideologies which was inaugurated by the French Revnlu
sustaixed and reprod uced. contes ted md transf rioi, and which
r,ned, throug h actions and culminated with the radical revolutionary novem
inicrarrioin vbicb include the ongoing exchange of symbo ents olthc early twenti eth
lic rms. century, The grand narrative of cultural trans& ,rnnrio
No lac flu [ircn disciissig chc conccpr olideo n thus ailocit es a
logy. arid the advantages specific role to the concept ofideology (understood
nd duadvancages ofdiffrnng wan of respon ding as a ncurra l toncep dori.
to the anbigu ous heritag e in the sense explained above). The concept a 1 ideology is used
of tins concept. Joweve r, many of the author s to dcscra hr the
who emplo y this concep t systems ofbdief which this theoret ical narrati
today are ineresred primarily in substantive problems of social reprod
ve alleges filled
the cultural
uction vacuum created by the decline of religio n and magic,
arid socia change ii their wrieiuas the cor&cept of ideolo arid which provided
gy plays a certain people with new forms of consciousness, new frames of meanin
mit itii a brnsjrr tlit-orcticai framevork or argument. g. na
These author s undergoing rapid and unprecedentcd soda1 change .
ma etnpkn rite concept in a rather Iz e and iniprec
ise way, and they can be The grand narrative ofculmral transformatio
iegiuinatcfv criricieed lot this imprecision; but Ewe want to understand n is deeply embed ded in the
and discourse of social and political theory. It has served
appreciate their ue of the cc>nccpr, we must recons truct and assess the implicit, theoretical construct within which many author
as a general, often
broader theoretical framework within which it plays its role. This i s have viewed and
5 the task analysed the development of modern societies, think
wna ii cunr!onr ii chapte r 2. Here my
that this
concer n is not so much with the contains some insights which are important for
szoricj rrajecwn- of concep t and die unders tandin g the
a prospe cn ior its relorm uladon conditions underwhich modem socieriesemerged out oI,ned
today, but tarher with a range of theoren icaI and rari
cal framew orks or argum ents, put modern Europe. But the narratives also misleading in certain
forward by a variety of contemporary fundamental
author s, and within which the concept respects. One such respec t is this: the theoris ts
of drology performs a central role. of the grand narrati ve, I shall
shall consid er, for instanc e, the work of argue, have ridsidentified the major cahura l
Aroi, hell arid Gouldnr. of Mthus transfo rmatio n associa ted with
ser and Poulan czas, of Horkheimer, the development of modern societi es. Preocc
Adorro and Elabtniias b shifting the discuss upied with the alleged process
ion on to this more general of secularization and rationalization these, theoris ts have
rheorcrical icvel we can get a dearer sense of the tended to neglect a
ways in which process of far greater significance which was taking place befi,rc
contemporary social and political theorists have used rheir cyes:
the concep t ofideo logy namely, the rapid proliferation of institutions of mass cununu
what they have tried to highlight by means of this concept and what nication aid

they the growth of networks of nausmission throug h which

li-at red to use this concept to explain. We comino difird
can also get a sense of what these symbolic forms were made available to an everexpanding
t-eonsn ha citegietted or filed co rake adequately into accoun domain ul
t. recipients. This is the process that I describe as die ,ned,az anon
tic key irgument that I shalt develop in this regard is that contem of niodern
porary culture. This process constin,tes, in my view, one of the key transfo
them ists who employ the concep ofideo rmations
t logy have failed to deal adequately associated with the rise of modern societies. Understanding
virh the iature and develo pment of
this process is
rnas comm unication, and th in role essential for unders tanding world today,
as a medium if ideolog
the a world which is increasiiiglv
y iii moder n societi es. In some cases this is because the traversed by institutionali zed networ ks ofcom niunica
!i iJoLo rs parc of a grand theoret
cion, and in which the
ical narrative concerning the experience of individuals is increas ingly mediat ed by
cultural traiisfortnaflons associated technic al system s oI
with the rise of moder n industr ial symbolic production and rransmission Unders tanding
societies, According to this grand narrative, this proces s will also
the develo pment of moder n provide an alternative theoretical framework within which
ii:dustrra socicries wa, accompanied, in the sphere of culture, a reformulated
by the concept of ideology can play some role.
pi-ogrtssive ccu1aT-lzation of beliefs and practices and the progressive
 j,itto,iudv,
they are praised or denounced, cherished or dcspis
ihe Mediazacion of Modern Cntture cd by these rudividtJs. \
second type of value is economic value, which
we can construe a rh
that symbolic forms acquire by virtue of being
2i scckzn co cuiders
offered for exchange iii a
tand the proces s which I describ e as the mediantion of marker. Not all symbolic fonns have economic value
modern cuirnie, I begin with the concept ofeulture economic valorization ofsymbolic forms is in this sense, but the
. Wha t are we refer nng an important process which lla
sp<ak of culture, of tint sphere of social life which developed historically and assumed
has been and an increas ingly impo rtant role it,
to be, transftnincd by the developm modern societies. When symbolic forms are
ent olmass cormn unicari on? subjec ted to econom ic valoriza
Acid how tn Vt- understan d the deve lopm ent mass tion, they become commodities or, as I genera
oi corn nrnth cadon as a lly sat, synbo lic goods which
<IC cc op sic cat iii the sphcrc of culture , as can be bought, sold or othenvise exchanged in
a cultu ral trasu fonn adon? The a market , The development o
.mccpr 0? eururc has a ong and compl icated history a marker for works of an, culminating in the establi
of its own, a history shment of galleries and
vfl1t ui-as pi oLbiy prod iced as inaity variant s and as much ambiguity as the auction houses in which works can change hands lr extraordinary suns.
otor ol r he ci ncept of ideology. Nevertheless, believe offers a I4Vid example of the process ofeconor
that the concept of nic valorization.
litu r IC nlafl;s ar, in-ipor tacit and valuable notion In characterizing symbolic forms as nieaningfiil
and that, suitably phenomena winch arc
cc bin il; 1 retI, it defines a ui danic iral don,ain of social both produced and received by individuaLs
analysis. In chapter 3 situated in speciFtc contexts, -c
indt-rtakc the Lask of rlarifvng and reformulating also imply that symbolic fornis are
the concept ofculture. genera lly trans mitte d. in one way or
low u ig the work of anrhropologzsis such as Geerrz, another, from producer to receiver.
I argue that the I shall describ e this as the clihuml
c.,nccq)t or colon-c <all appropriately be used to refer, in transmisswn of symbolic forms, and I shall
a general way, to the disting uish three aspects of this
riarac ret il social file to the patterns olmeaning embodied process. In the first place, cultural transmission
in the involves die use 014 recicuica;
inhcdrc 1 mis cxc hanged in soti l ijireraction. medium, or ,na;eria substranim, by means
But this emphasis on the of which a symbolic form is
cuhuhe }i-ara ret of sot tal Lie rn Us be com plem produced and nansrnitred. The technical med
ented by an empha sis on ium allows for a certain degree
the ncr aIway evident the wrinng s that of fixation of meaningful content, as well
of Geer symbo lic forms as for a certain degree of
nc em br.ddcd in structu ed social contex involv ing reproduction of symbolic forms. The
ts relatio ns of power, degree of fi2carioii and repmnduction
flirnis ofconflicr. inequaLities In terms of the distr ibuti depends on the nature of the medium
on of resources, and so a message engraved

in stone will
Ibis dual cmupliasis lefine what I call the strucm rai conceprion of generally have a much higher degree of 6xario n. hut a muc h kisser degree
Cu mire. Cultural phcnoniena. on this account. may reproduction. than a message inscrib ed
of
be seen as ho1icfos or print ed on paper. A second aspect
in ilru ur conf<xtg and cultural analysis may of cultural transmission concerns the insti
be regard as the study of the
ed tutio nal appara tus vntlun whrcli a
acal-o iagfu c-ccisii I 0001) nd SOC;aI co,it technical medium is deployed. The deploym ent of
cxn,al,z,non of synibohc forms. technic al media is often
To eievi symbo lic f&rns as contex tualize d phen ome na part of a broader institutional context which include
s
is to regard them system s ofproduction
a. eiccraiF< produced and seccived by individuals simared of symbolic forms and channels of selective diffusi
in specifi c social on. A third aspect
historical contexts and endowed with resources and capaci concerns what may be called. following authors such
ties of variou s as l-Iatold Innis and
k;iads. Symbolic fhrrns nay bear the traces of their social Anthony Giddens, the space rime disranc iation
cond ition s ci involved in cultural
t odsc noli 1 the way, for iijsta
p that all utreral ice transnssion. The transmission of a symbolic form

ice, may be marked by necessarily invohi es the
the accent, tdion anti tone ofa 1 marncula r socia lclas sor region detachment, to some extent, of this fonn from
al backgr ound. the origina l contex t of its
lie soaal ccnte>rual,zarion olsymbolic fornm also implie that production: it is distanced from this contex t, both
s these forms spatial ly and tempor ally,
may bccoin the ohecrs of complex processes of aluar ion. and inserted into new contexts which are located
evalu adon and at diffe rent flues and
co,lflice. I-Fire I locus on what! cai] processes ofvalorizaon
that places. In this way symbolic forms acquire what shall call I
is, proces ses an extended
be which and through winch symbolic forms ale ascribed availability in rime and space. They are made available to
a certain value. art extended tange
1 here ire zwo epes ofva lue which are particu larly impo ofpotential recipients who may be situated in contexts that
rtant in this regard are remote, boric
Uric im pe what may ht- called sv,nbo lic value: the value n time and in space, fro,n the origina l contex ts of prod uctio
that symbolic n.
I tars have by virtue of the ways in which they are esteem ed by die This theoretical reflection on the concep t of cultu re and related issues
individuals who produce and receive them, by virnie of the provides a framework within which we can begin to think
ways in which about the
 4 In tic ii
in in tIw c/to
c-i gent - ti d t-Vciupi I rent nt mask cornnm can broadly
njcano n. shaped, in a profound and irreversible way, the modes it cchich
rinrrgciu e f iias conmu sv,:tbs ic
the gradual
--
csa ish nit: Ut f a range of inso rutions based oa certain technic
ricatio n II cemis o h-inns are produced. transniined and received in modern societi
al means of es as vt N as
culnirai cransnhisson, and orientated towards die the modes in which individuals experience the actions and events
largescale produc char take
tion and place in contexts from which riley are spatially and temporally rerliote.
UCUC: a{izcti diffUsion o1conmodified
symbolic foims. Th earlies these
t brim of developments are parfiall constirutive olmodern societies, and are
mass co]nnii]ncauon tetc based on techniques ofprind ng and parnall
on the useol constitutive of what is modern about the societi es in which
-cc per a means d wansndssion. The key develo we live oda
pment s in th That is, pan of what constitutes moder n societi es as mode
-
egi ci We I; rhosc nni only associated vi di die goidsnflth rn is the fact that
from Mainz, the ezcchange of symbolic forms is no longer restricted primarily
Johann GULCnberg. who invented a method for the replicacasting to the
olmetal contexts of facetoface interaction, but is extens ively arid Increas
cc-rand ho daptcd the traditional screw press to the iligly
purposes of mediated bs the insrimdons and n,echanisms mass of conirn
mat ci (ac-turing printed rcxt. B-v die end of the fifteen ulljcar itin. Oi
th century . printing course, this process of the mediazation nf modern culture is only one
yr whaI herci cr opin the major trading centres throug aspect
hout Europe and of the formation olmodern societies. It is a process which has
the c-s a of i Lass communication had begun. gone handin
hand with the development of industria] capitalism (and alternative forms
In chaprci 4 trace the emergence and develo pmentof ;iias coniniLirnca of
industrial development ) and with the rise of the moder n stare (and associa
-: t I ic fiftccdi c-cam n to the
preseri day. outhi,i ng the major ted
forms of polinca) particip-aiioi $ These proces ses have overlap ped with one
in ItnOLI4 tarn describing tile basic technical means and highlighting another in complex ways they have taken ditfi,rent paths
icc dcvi- opmenral treads. I try to show in different
how, from the outset. historical and geographical contexts But togeth er
rile Jcvelc nent of rilass corn rnunic they have defined the
arion was closely interwoven with the basic contours of the societies in which we live today, contours which
es p-u ision of ccnriltiercial organizations
and with the development of the are
becoming increasingly global in character.
Jctrr tarz, ltlioug h ofric-, a broad histori cal account, I devote p4rncular What are the characteristics of the new regime
acrcrnin to the relatively recent emerge of cujtura i cTansm,ssion
nce ofbroadcarir.g mediathat is. created by the advent of mass communication? How should we unders
rig the tra,,sni of via tand
55101] messag es ei tromag nenc waves to the nature of mass communication, the ways in which
an wdecernnnate and extend ed audien ce Today it affects social
the most import ant of the interaction, the rose which it plays, and ought to
broajccsn, media are those concer ph>, in social and politic al
j
ned with televis ion transin issiohi . and life? These are the questions which address in chapter 5. where
s Icr hee media some in dera I sketch the
I also examin e recent develop beginnings oh sociaj theory of mass communication. 1 emphasize
ments cvcthi LI the ijedia industries as a whole, develo pments the fact
which are based char, while mass commu nicatio n involv es the exciran of
on cc nolnic, pciiricai and rec-hnoiogical ve symbo lic forms.
lacrors . These deve)opmencs the kinds of communication established thereby are quite different
inciude the growing concentration and diversi ficatio from
n within the media those involved in ordinary, day-to--day conversation. For mass corninunica
indusmes, the increasing globalization of the activiti
es of media concerns. non generally involves a oneway flow ofnress ages from
nieni of Jew comnmurucanon technologies, such as those the produc er to tile
receiver- Ulilike the dialogical siruanon ofa conver sation, in which listene
as aced i rh iN and carelli re trans missio n. a r
These proces ses have led to is also a potential respondent. mass ccmmunicanon institutes a fundamental
I mt O a rgc-scahe cor,Imunicaflon conglomeraie br,ak
s which have major between the producer and the receiver in such a way that recipie
stakes in a variety of industr ies associa ted
nts have
with die produc tion and diffusion relativ ely little capaci ty to interve ne
of i marina on and corn unicarion. M ultiinedia and mu in the commu nicativ e proces s and
Innational in contribute to its course and conten t. Of course , recipie nts do have sonic
cse c,ioiitrrat sprawl across the globe, buying and selling capacity to intervene; dies- can, ior instance, write letters to the editor,
pa rn, olar rite Wa concerns at a feveris
h rare
phone
rransfe rnng inform ation and television companin and expres s their news. or vote with their feet. lint
it am in Iron ic hen sphere to other instant aneous while particular institutions and cechnica] media admit of vanous kinds
au ]y (or of
virto ally so). and be-awing messages into the livingrooms
of countless recipient response, the fundamental asymmetry of the communicative
individuals corldwide. process ren,aiims intact.
&. Uc. opIiiehics all, 3 trends documented iii chapte r 4 are tire instini This asynunetry has implications for what I call I/ic ir,teracriornil impact
I c-c] ten it c-re. Cl iic med azatior of ii odermi culture 4
technical media I use this expression to refer to the ways in which the
. They have -
 1 iuci Hass Cu liii U Jicatitin have
traiisionhitilg, thc nature of social interaction
t,aiisfo rined, and are capable from ike a,, oJmanaging visibil, y. But it is niporrant to stress that ti increased
in moder n societi es. The visibility atTorded by mass communication is source a both
hricaL ,ncda houid not be seen as a mere supple of
ment to political opportunities and of unprecedented pohncai risks
p!v--ckistlng social tclariu,is: rather, we should Fhroi& ri
see rhk deployment as serving medium of television, political tigu res can communicate
Yeah Tln% ocja r elan is, new ways of acting and ri reracnng, neW ways n a vast and wide
dispersed audience, carl present themselves and their views
p reM: ndng oneseff and of responding to the selfpresentation controlled fashion.
iii a car rulk
of others, But this mediu m also allows for the pcissih ilitv that
Ii n ill of tc bnt ca media was highlighted by the soca political figures may appear Incom
u a ;hoi-isi s. lled petent, illin for,ned Cut CF C ontrc,l , ii
n,rabl 4 Mars
l i h MeL ulIa but rile ways in winch ways and on a scale which never existed before
cia borard this poi Dr welt In the elrcrro iiicaIl
rather idiosyn cratic and, in some mediated political arena, an impromptu remark or an emotio
rccpecrs, 4 iin
n szb pie. I rlierefore develo nal outburst
p the theme in a different way. can bring about the fail of an aspiring leader. 1 e do not have to look far to
nc ni ally mediated ii ass find examples of the distinctive kind of political fragilit
Comm u ucatio n, and primarily on y created b
I in cugu isis c-era] -inwn sions of inrerac tional impact and mediated visibility, a fragility which is rntrinsic to sorienes
erich unojm deiaiI. At lie ni,sc ftiz,dncnj in which the
level the depimetis of process of mediazation has penetrated and, ro sonic extent. recoi,snnitcd
lrni a! media tpararci socr1 inutacrios, from die
physical locale, so that individuals political arena.
flu at \ i one another n en
rhnuh rlie do nor share a common lithe deployment of technic al media has transfo rited nit w.i ii:
al C rp< nil settirig lId:
this implic ation is characteristic of all technical individuals produce and rransir iir messag es. it has also transfo rmed rlit life-
I Ci Ii VL)iVr SOBIC degree of space conditions offhe individuals who receive
rime distanciatiozi (a telephone these messag
vursanon, toy cainpic); hut in the es as a rounne part of
case of ii ass communication, the their daily lives. This is true in the relativ ely straigh tforwa rd sense it which
- -:1 act I: I: nt a bhshcJ rereh aursc rile deploynierir ofa technical medium like television can tnnslor
s a p-artic uar form. Since mass
C niuT icatini Insn
nt. and tI: a
aires a thiid-a iiteurai break benceen the production ignificanr extent has etansformed, the spatial
sep1 ion 1 syi ii fbi ic loins,
and and temporal orgaiiizaricm 01
it n akes possib le a specifi c kind of everyday life for most individuals in modern societies.
ac n 55 ci oe and spat which we may call
interac tion The televis ion
ii ediace d quasi interac tion, It is often occupies a central location within the home and becom
II r,rscur it di vol yes in&viduals onu,,iu
es the point

mcani to others ho around which other spaces and activities are organized. lhe sclsedu
rc>pond to dc crrai 1 ways and who may Ihrmn bonds someti hiiz ni
mes particular programmes may derern ii,ie the way in -hicii int1iti
ot ricud slop,

duas
tn sc
affccno n or loyalty with them. But it is quasi organize the rempora flow of their activn es in the
interaction beaust the flow of onimunicarion is course of an evenin g, a
predominantly onew ay day or a week. Bur the deployment of technic al media can transfo
a? d the ii mdc response available to recipients are sinc rl circumscribed rm the life
. condtuons of recipients in a more compli cated, less eviden t
By sepaidnng social interac sensc i-tsr
tion from physic al locale, the deployment of enables individuals to experience events which take place locales
as- nit d i cd a enables individ
1 in that are
uals to acefor distant others. Technical media spatially and temporally remote, and this
expenence may in turn inform or
en;sblc individuals n commnurucate with others stimulate forms of action or response on the
who are spatially and parr of recipie nts, includi ng
reroute, arid individuals adapt their commu nicative behaviour in Eirms of collective or concerted action. The recepti
order to LtiiiCLIc with the opportunitics offered by on of nediare d esCiit \
the deployment of new greatly expands the range of possible experience to which individuals
inrdia. lie raistence f rite medium arc, in
oi televis ioi, has given rise to a new principle, exposed. It enables individuals in one part of the world to
Ca tc:ory of -action which is carried events which
our with the aim of being televis able. that take place in anothe r, and to respon d, individ ually or
s. c a p-aU i [mci fig rraiisiiii ited via television to a spatially discan collectively, to these events
r and . When individ uals in Londo n or New York,
pn;cioa}l c asr audience, B being televised, action Moscow or Prague. turn on
ii
(and the individuals who their televis ions and watch Chines e troops
eq ores a i ew kind oi iuihilsry tha r was ci mply nor possib assaulting students in Tiananmen Square. or Last Gernian border
le prior guards
to r he -ad cut of mass corn muijic ation in genera l, and of televis ion in dismantling the Berlin Wall, they are witnes sing events of major histori
rar iral r. [hs a per of ias onhrnu cal
c nic ation has long been recogn ized by significance, even though these events may be cakinz place
ln do :ri Involved n dtc put suit in distant region s
and exercis e of power virhin the of the world and the evrnrs themselves arc subiec red thereby new
non o Ui aid Cc, in the era mass co,n,,iunuatsw, politics is to a kind
-
4 inscparablt of global xn.riny which never existed beftne. Individuals are
ibir to
 par neipart- u rcahii of cultura l cxperience winch is no longer restricted by ,nsntut ions in the differe nt sphere s of mass comm unicati on. This pnnciple
the shanug of a cornni on locale, willie the activities of states and other calls for two concrete measures: the dcconcentration of resourc
es in the
alt jn to
1es in ay which is becoming increasingly media industries, and the insulation of media institutions from tli cxci
global Hi -COC. of state power The principle defines a broad insrirunonal pacea space
While the realiii of miediated expene nce brough t into being by the between the unhindered operation of marker ibrces, on the one hand, and
nent ol mass corn rnun cation is no longer restricted
by the sharing the direct control of media institutions by the state, on the other within
or. alt ic vr theless the nawre and potent ial impact of this n hich media organizations can operate and develop. It i a space that

reani of cperance is shaped h the nsdtutional arrangements can
and forms of accommodate a varier ol specific organizational fornis, whether chusru
pou that characterize the contexts chin which media messag
es are located wtliin the public domain, the private domain or the domain of what
produceeL transmitted and received. Eke traditional liberal
arguments in may be describ ed as interm ediate organi zations . But it is also a space which
favour of the freedoiii oi the press were based on the assum
ption that the must be seen as existin g on a trans nation al scale. Media institu nons have
us or power likely to be inos r restrictive,
and likely to 6nder most the long since ceased to operate within the confines of a single nationstate the
cipacity oi the emerging media to expres :
s a diversi ty of opinio ns and points trans-national character oirhe forms oftransmnission associated with sarcilire
if new, etc e ns at power maci turiana lized in moder
die n state. For technology represents only the most recent, if perhaps the most dranuaric.
hheia hinLems ike Jeremy Benthain. James Miii and John stage of a procs of globalization winch the development of mass
Stuart
M F. di --ra N ha 1 unt ci alt i rtdcpendent press hick was free from state coinmunicarios has both promoted and reflected.
ccusorshp and control was vital far the development [(we are to make tar most
ofa democ ratic potity oldie new opportunities afforded by the deployment ofnew teclmologics
in which a discrsie of opinions could he expressed. and in
in which the the sphere ofnuss coiuuuunication, and ifwe arc to avoid the dangers winch
at LI; tin I those iliu rule could be cruniiized, criticized and, ilneces the development of mass conununication hitherto has dispIaed. then
sary. the
-:si rained Ti:- re is nu Ii zh r ar be said
It Iavour of the amgu ments put implementation of the principle of regulated pluralism wli require a level
lorv ard by these aly c liberal thinke rs, arum eits which retain political will and international cooperation which is all too often absent
0!
their
Si and u ren y today. n a world where attemp ts by state officia ls to from the contemporary politic al scene.
restrict lit flow of nfor,iiatioii and the circula tion of ideas have The development of social
by no a uheot of mass commu nicatio n procid cs a
d sppv rcd ci ther n the West or in the East. But the traditio backcloch against which we can reconsider the problems associated with
nal the
liberal tin-ory .J the flee press is. I shall argue, of limited value analysis a
today in 1 ideology in modern societies. Tfwe couceivc ofideology in
rb Lking ihouv the nature and role of media insnnnions in moder of the ways in which the meaning mobilized by vinbolic orms serves to
n soclefles.
fly placing so much emphasis on the dangers of state power the early liberal establish and sustain relations of domination, then we can sec that the
rheor ists d U ut take sufficient a- ounu of a chrea r stemm ing development of mass communication has enormous consequences for the
fmom a
diflcrent solirt C: from dir unhindered growth of media industr nature and scope of ideological phenomena. With the development c,funass
ies ua
- intL et a:oi ccrns NI reover, tile traditional liberal theory was devel communication, the circulation of symbolic forms is incteasiuglv ceveted
opvd p1-ui niv with regard to the newspaper and publishing industr from rhe sharing ofa common physical locale, and hence the r,iobilizanon of
ies, and
it canno he easily and direcdv transpo
sed to those sectors of the media meaning is increasingly capable of transcending the social context within
sa ie that have ed such
assuu; import ance in the twentie rLi century. which symbolic forms are produced. It is only with the development ofimiass
ccrcr, ii.i I ae hasd ni dilierent technical media communication that ideological phenomena could become iius
and which have
ate t- opel wi tin i ftuuidainc ritaIIv differe nt institu framew phenomena, that is. phenomena capable of afkctitig large numbers or
nonal orks
in au auempt to move beyond the traditio nal liberal theory of the free individuals in diverse and segregated settings. If mass communication has
press -and o ni r& about rlie must approp riate institu tional framew orks for become a major medium for the operation of ideoloy in modern societies, it
the -Jcvciopmeri: oi ;,cdia industries ii the late twentie th century 1 argue in is because it has become a major medium for tie production and
,
favour of t hat iiav be called the princpk ofrgiilased pturaim. By transmission of symbolic forms, and because the inboiic forms thereb,
regulated
plum aLism I mean a broad insnnitional framework which would both produced are capable of circulating on an unprecedented scale, reaching
accorl unodate and secure the existence of a plurality of independent media millions of individuals who may share little in common other than their
 .Infrodratian
Jn;roduet,.n 2
Capacity to ]tCCve nas-.srrtediared But while the significance of
messages.
what I shall describe as the hermeneutical conditions oJsocialhuwrical sri.pi .
7
onn-,utucarcon ouid not be underestimated. we mu add o These conditions stem from the constitution of rhr object domain
Mass ha become of s cal
a a no cumin inacanoii
a major medium of histortal inquiry, an object domain which differs in certain fiimidanicric
dcrn s cierin. but c by no the al
is nicails only inediurm It i
5 respecas from the object domains of the natural scieilcn. For the ubjcct
inipo taut rress that ideology understood broadly meaning

as in the domain of socialhistorical inquiry is nor only a concatenation nlobjecrs
5CIVLC of power operates in a variety of contexts and

in eveiyday life, from events which are there to be observed and explained: At is also a subject
ordinary conversatio;is between friends to ministerial addresses
on prime domain which is made up, in parr. olsubjects who, it the rounne cc,urse of
:11 reie is r] i OSC con. erried wi di the
theory nd analysis of ideology their everyday lives. are constantly involved in undcrsrandin
be nti,rakn to ixus rxclusivclv on ma,s g themselves
commu nicario njust as they and others, in producing meaningful acnons and expressions
uid :d f riiry ignored it. [he second qualilk and iii
ation is this: while interpreting the meaningful actions and expressions produced by others,
din develop;rsel of mass ominu aicacion has created in
a new set of other words, the object domain ofsonalhistorical inquiry is a preinrerpre
przaniercrs Lv the operation olideoogy in modern societies, the ced
question of domain in which processes ofunderstanding and interpretation take place
whether nassinediated messages are ideological is question as
particular
a a routine pair of the everyday lives of the individuals who, in part make tip
be arnwcred absnacciv. but which must be pursued within the this domaia The preinrerpreted character oF the socialhistorical world
is a
csteniatic mccrprnativr niecho dol. Ody in this way can consrirutive feature which has no parallel in tile
tiic ttidenq all too coni non in the natural sciences. In pursuing
literature to assume char
socialhisioncal siquiTy we are seeking to understand and explain a range
niedi, messages arc ideological as such of
and efficacious throughout phenomena which are, in some way and to some extent, already understood
the socal world. The elaboration ofa systematic methodology will enable by the individuals who are part of the socialhistorical world: we are seeking.
us
to vciop -an aproacfi to the ideological character of media rnessaes
de in short, to reinterpret a prr-inrerprcted riolnaimi
which
it rL;-or{- :zot I; intl IThve C esrra: wed.
While the tradition of hermenencics can call our attention these
to and
other hei-mcneutical conditions of socialhistorical Inquiry,
it car also
provide us, on a more concrete level, with some mer]iodologcal
The Methodology of Interpretation guidelines
for research. I develop these guidelines by means of what I call the ,necltodo
logical framework of dtvtk herrneneunics, The idea of depth her,neneuncs
t thi. h-.k ,,;ceri ed sith problems ala geIcral theoretical nanire is
drawn from the work of Paul Ricoeur. amons cthen. The value ofthis
t..xi ccpt and rule ci idea is
-.
tdeolog> the concept of culture and the that it enables us to develop methodologi cal irame.
I clruri
a ork which is
transns sion, tie development of ms orientated towards the interpretation (or reinterpretation)
comi on ica {. ii and cs implications of meaningait
for social and political life. But an phenomena, but in which different types of analysis can
essential part of my argument is that these general theoretical problems play legitimate and
can mutually supportive roles. It enables us to see that the
he,an a thou Ii he, cn med ich issues ci a more concrete, methodological process of
interpretation is not necessarily opposed to types of analysis which
.4.-; C; t: .4pe: cxpicz ionic oldie coniiectioia beeen theory and are
concerned with the structural feamres of symbolic forms or with the social
v
1
J.aL; hcuv cen theoretical reflection and methodical, detailed historical conditions of action and interaction,
srqury. My air is not so much to prescribe or proscribe particular methods but that, on the concran,
these types of analysis can be Jmnked together and construed as necessary
ofnsc-ards. hut rather to outline a bro d methodological framework
4 steps
within along the path of inrerpreradon. It also enables us to see that particular
which particular methods can be situated and related to one another, methods
and ofanalysis may shed light on some aspects oh phenomenon at the
wit i i I-ac It di-ir due ias we H -as their linits can be appraised.
expense olothers, that their analytical srre,igtl, may be based on
r. Je Jpug- ri-its Irsinework. strict limits.
drav on a particular tradition ofrhoughr, and that these particular methods may best be regarded as partial stages
trjIt; rti.t fl sitontv kndwn a hern,eneurics. hy hermencutics within a more comprehensive methodological approach.
?
Whir does this ancieIt trad,tjon of rhoughc stemming from Classical I develop depth J,crme,ieurics as a general methodologicai framework
Greece, have to offer the student of modern culture? We can answer this for the analysis of cultural phenoniena,
quest n on that is, for the analysis of symbolic
level On a general level, this tradition calls our attention to forms in structured contexts. Depth hernieneutics, on this account. i.s
a
 uwthod A ug cal Era icwork comprising three principal phases or pro
cedures, lie Iirst phase, which may be described as socialhistorical analy
is co ccl ned wi di the social and historical conditions ol the producnon,
a :.i, and tee ptoii of symbolic lot us. Ts phase is essential because
nor suir ii a vacuan,: they are contextuded sociai
C a. tne are produced. circulated and received within spedfic
is.:c
4r,Icac%irk r dinons i hsch can be reconstructed with the aid of
-rnpiix. obc r azi iria and doe unietitary ,neiho&. The second phase of the
dep di hi-ri siencu tic :i framework may be described as fonnal or discursive
analysis To undertake ftrnial or discursive analysis is to study symbolic
-as complex smbol,c constructions which display an articulated
rriicru Ebis phase is essential because symbolic forms arc conrexmalized
ct a aid same thing more: the, are svinh,lic constructions
true or their structural features, are able to, and chini to,
set >. rnccliing. ignit sotnerhiri. ay sottierhirig about something. Jr
and rreduc bit aspect of symbolic forum which calls for a
dilferetit type of anaIym, 1 or ar analytical phase which is concerned
priniari di the inter hal orgatizatlon ot symbolic forms, with their
teatures, patterns and relations. But this phase of analysis, while
perfectly CgIdITIatC, can become misleading when it is removed from the
iI-aLneV-ut-k oideprh Ieameneucic5 and pursued as an end it itself Taken on
us ;. . n a or d,s urshve aria vsi can becoirie and in many instances has
-- in abrrac eac-rcise. disconnected from socialhistorical condi
a bin ous r,-, v hat s [xin ckpressed by die symbolic forms whose
trurturc. it seeks to unveil.
The thud and firisi phase of rhc deprhherroeneurical framework is what
may properly [e called inrerpterarion (or reinrerpreration). This phase is
concerned virh the creative explication of wh4t is said or represented by a
svn,hc,i is torrn; it is concerned with the creative construdoon of possible
c TIc p-has ol interpretation builds upon the resul of sial
a ir ai ti tirmal cr discursive atulysis, but moves beyond
U if ptCCCs c3 syi-tthenc construction. h uses socialhistorical analysis
aralysis co shed light on the social conditions and
uctu r a I c-arnres of a symbolic form, and it seeks to interpret a symbolic
in us light, to explicate and elaborate what it says, what it represents,
what it Ls about, This process of interpretation is at the same time a process
of rein tcrpretano,i, ,i the sense that it is a reinterpretation mediated by
if the depth - hertneicuncal framework of an object domain
iircadv nrcrprcred and undersr by the subjects who nke up
la i 5torI Cal odd, in offering an interpretation ot symbolic forms,
Iterpren ig a pre.in rcrpreted doiiiai tr, and titus engaging ii a
process which can, by its very nature, give rise to a conflict o snrcr
pretatlons.
The depthherrneneutical approach, which I develop as a general
framework for culwral analysis. can be adapted to the analysis ouideology.
regard the analysis of ideology as a specific form or cersin,l of depth
hermeneutics. The speciflcity of this form consists in the fact that the various
phases of the depthhermeneurical approach are employed with the aim of
highlighting the ideological character of symbolic forms, that is. vath the
aim of highlighting the ways in which meaning serves to establish and
sustain relations of domination. Elaborated in terms oldie methodological
framework of depth hernieneurics, the phrase the interpretation of
ideology acquires a precise sense: to interpret ideology N to explicate the
conuecflon between the meaning mobilized by syn,bolic Forms and the
relations of domination which that meaning serves to maintain. The
interpretation of ideology draws on the phases of socialhistorical analysis
and Formal or discursive analysis, but it gives them a critical crnpiiasiv
employs them with the aim of disclosing leaning in the service of power.
The interpretation oi ideology is depth hermeneutics with a critical intent,
The potential conflict inherent in the process of interpretation thus
a new and distinctive form when we are concerned with interpreting the
ideological character of symbolic forms.
If we rum out attention to aiialvsing symbolic forms in the context or
mass commurncaflon, we must confront a new range of methodological
problems. These problems stern primarily From the fact, noted earlier, that
mass communication mun,ces a Fundamental break ber.een the pro
duction and reception of symbolic forms, in view of this characteristic, we
must adopt a somewhat dIfferent approach to the analysis ofniassmediared
symbolic forms. We must distinguish between three aspects ni object
domains of mass communication, and then apply the deprh-hermenentical
procedures in differing ways to each. The thsee aspects are: first, the
production and transmission or diffusion of massmediated symbolic forms:
second, the construction of media messages; and third, the recepnon and
appropriation olniedia menagea I describe this as the tripartite approach to
mass communication. AU three aspects are involved in the production and
circulation of mass-mediated symbolic forms. But since mass communica
tion institutes a break between production and reception, the conditions of
production and transmission are generally distinct from the conditions of
reception and appropriation, and must be analysed separately. While each
aspecrolniass communication can be analyed separately (and generally is in
the empirical literature on mass communication). the tripartite approach
highlights the fact that each aspect is defined by abstracting from the other
 Jntrodwcrian 5
npcx. riregrned pracess. The tnparnze approach reminds us accompanies it -the myth of the passive recipient. ]hc idea that
liar >inpr Ii ensivu account of n ass con ilnuflication requires the capacity recipients of mcdi a nessages are passive onlookcts who sT11pI y absorb ha
ro anainc all three aspects and o show how these aspects relate to one flasJie before
s rheni ml the screen , or what obtrud es from the age, isa myth
in rhr prc dncriuii. rransnhission and reception of triassmediated that bears no resemb lance to the actual charac ter ci approp riation as all
ongoingprocess oinnde rstandi ng and interpr etation , ofdiscu ssioii. appma is.i
I 1 of thu mrcrpretanon of and incorporation. The process olappr opnano n is all active arid potcr:t iaU
ideo i, combi ned with the
Iripati te app oach S mass c onununican on, enable critical process in which individuals are invt>N ed in a contin uous efibu to
s us to pose in a new way understand, an effort to make sense oldie messages they receive,
he inc rhodological proble is involved in seeking to analys e ideolo gy in the to relate to
c: rcasiriv nn-,ticdiatcd culture. in touch a then, and to thare them with others. By engaging in this effort to uiidcrs rac,.l,
1 die earlier individuals are also engaging, however implicitly and unselkonsc,o
I r-rartin on dc idec- ogica character of iliass Comm unnon, anaJys have uslv. I,: a
,dc i ,s iai geI <.u exclLlsivcly on the structure and content media process ofselffornuatiun and scltZur.dersrandiig, in s proccms ofrctniuin
ol ti
xiicssagcs, and have med to read off the consequences of these messages and reunderstanding themselves through the messages they receive and
by seek to understand. In the course of receiving media messages and seeking to
reflect it ni die tiicsages thernsel es, This kind oi analysis falls foul of what
understand them, of relating to them and sharing them with others.
IC a dc-it j mutual srii a &liac) which, in devel opin my methed
H ic.i 1 mpo.iL I sin pai-nculartv concer
individuals remould the boundaries of their experience and revise their
ned to avoid. In ebng to anilyse
understanding nt rile world and of thcrmelves. They are not passively
lie iii ogi a I ciiai ac Let of mass mediac ed syiiibo lic forms, we must rake
&ccon it >1 al
absorbing what is presented to them, but are actively, sometimes critically.
three aspects of lass comni utticat ion the producrioa/

engaged in a continuing process ofselfformation and selfunderstanding, a
ii [Sn OOfl nstru knOtt. 4 nd tccepn nt approp riation of media tnessages
tvc-7T31hL it.-r par riCu ai ai tendon to what
process of winch the reception and approprianois olniedia messagn is nda
may be called (lie erwyday an integral part.
Ha dated prc-Ju . If arc i literesced in the way to wbd h
oieariu Sen us to ustablis h and sustain relations of domination, then we The crinca potential inherent in the interpretation of ideology may be
must c am regarded, in part, as a contribution to this process of self-formation and self-
inc how the nicanin g mobilized by riussmediared symbolic
H -u-,-;.,c understanding. In developing an interpretation of ideology, we are putting
. .id apprst d bs the in&vidnak who, in the course 0
he Irc ci vda anti ics. forward an iriterpretanoI which may diverge from tile evcnda untie,
receive media n essages and incorporate them into
srandingofthe individuals who make up the social world. Time interpteratioi
(St . must cicalill ii their everyday understanding, heir routine
tactic vs of reception of ideology nay enable individuals to see symbolic thrms differently, in a
and approprration, and the socialhistorical conditions
* itli in s-hi cii these
new light, and thereby to see themselves differently. It may enable them to
aunt-es of reception and processes of understanding
reinterpret a symbolic &.rni in relation to the conditions of its production
i. Ac can flAt ake practices and
-
these proces ses for granted ; ve and reception, in relation to irs structural features anti organization; it
chat :i n e,gc constru cted ri a certn way ll h enable then, to question or revise their prior understanding of a s mboic
ales ci xi a cer, un way by all crc pitIits all contex claim
in ts; cc cannot
form, and thereby to alter he horizons olrheir understanding oftlirrnselvcs
.r pe1.. rid o cad oil the cunscqu euces of media messag es by attendi ng to and others, describ
I e this proces s, clue possib ility of which is implic it in the
SOUL eu-c Iid 0 iUWtit (.t inc iicssag
es alone. By examining the even ay
4 interpretation of ideolov. as he inse pretatite rrartsfor,naritm ejJoxii that
to va 3(10 liedia 1 esage5 In reia non to the other aspects
of mass is.
the interpretative transformation of the everyday understandings, attitudes
devebp an interpretation of the ideological and belie Is of the individuals who make up the social world.
-L of uassi, udiace d symbo lic forms which avoids the fallacy of
tern a mm, and which high lights
There is a second respect in which the interpretation of ideology implies a
the ways in which the mean rig mobilized critical potential: it opens a path for a criticai reflection, not only on the
us..a.cc s tn is or di pi. to esbIish or undemiin e, the
und sai,L everyday understanding of lay actors, but also on the rdanons of power and
0 ats thin which individuals ret dye these messages
pcrrc men: at their everyday lives.
domination vithin which these actors are enmeshed. The iruerprerarion
ideology necessarily involves the socialhistorical analysis of structured
I
y c,r riula r iug he n erhodological issues in this wa) we can avoid
not relations of power, with reference to which the role of symbolic jornus is
i1ly C I I icy of inter! ialisn-t, but also tie myth that commonly
 26 in u.dua fl
itirroductw: :
Co ISidCI rd, Hence he interpretation
ot ideology flay serve to stiniulate a 6on. These conditions cannot determ ine
c:riiical rcflecnon on reladon of power arid dornirration. our judgem ents, and these judge
their bases their nents may not be inflIible. But in the
u ods .nd U modes h which they are susrain ed It is in this sense that the
sphere
where we are seeking to understand an object
of social hisrori ca inquiry ,
intrrp e anon of dcotcg > bears an domai n already unders tood by
interna l connec tion to what may be the subject who make up this domain, the rxcrcise ofreasonableju
cahed :/w rnrque of dtnninaoor it is methodologically dgemeni
predisp osed to may be a particularly valuable gain.
soniulare a cnrical reflecdon on relatio ns of power domin
and ation. 5
Tb, is
wit- of be reasons why the xncerp retanon of ideolo gy may elicit strong
rcaC!ioris 1mm sonic of he mndividuah who make up the social world. It
touches rue nttvcs ifpower, it highlights the positions of those who benefit
a;: d those w ho bmieh r least from existing social
relations, and it
exanuncs sonic of the syrnbo[ic riechan
isnis by vbrwe of which these
as-;nrnetricaI social relanons are
established and sustained in the dayto--day
flow ofacial ILk,
I ike p otess or riterpretan in iii genera
l, and of the interpr etation of
;driogc pirdciiiar. raist, certain pioble nis concer ning the kind, of
jusnhc-anon which are possib le and approp r ate in the realm ofsocialhisror-
ica] inquzv My approach to these proble ms is piecem eal. I do not search for
some general entenon which would magica lly resolve all disputes, burl ask,
instc.d, w)ta Lmds ofdmsputes we can expect to have in this realm olinquiry
and iio we nught reasonably proceed to resolve
them. This approach
illires us to ams the issues, breaL down the
proble ms and try to define
son of the nclj ons ho ever critadvely under which conflic d ng
-

inrcrpreninons and conflating views could
be compared and debate d, under
which different kinds of evidence and arguments could
be adduce d, and
undec which disagreements could, perhaps, be resolve
d. This piecemeal
appioach to problems otjusnfication may disappoint those
who lung for
certainty, who long ir some Foundation (to use
that fateful metaphor)
unun wlii Ii ui knowledge ci the sochl--
historical world could be painsta
kingly and unshakeahiy built. Hut this quest for certain ty is misgui ded; it is
)srroiuiLaI impulse which
1
c wreaks havoc in an object domain that is
too complex Lx intellectual criteria
of this kind. On the other hand, the
i;iciucai appro4cii advocate may seem strange ly oldfashioned to those
who hive ong since abandoned the quer for certaL
nry, seeing the modern
(or posi--m odcrn ) age as one in which we have, or should have, finally
recognized that there are no valid criteria
oljuscificacion and that all we have
are nuinpi inrcrpttraons. compenngwith
one another, payin g offaga insr
another and surviving or il Ippilig away by rue
of the power they pos
>ess but these critics have, in my view, gone too far. We can reject the quest
lot ccrta inrv wuhout abamidoinrig the attemp t to elucida te the conditions
under which we can ri,ake reasonable judgem ents about the plausibility or
aitsb ny 1 an ii rcrpretanon vi thcj usEness or otherw
,se of an instill,
 / he Concept of idet ey
I some of the ways in whic Ii the concep t is emplo yed in the vork of Mar
While Man is undoubtedly the most inporta nr figure in die history oldie
concept ofideology, his writings do not offer a single, cohere nt view. He uses
The Concept of Ideology tins tern occasionally and erratically; and one can discern SOCFaI dlffercimr
themes which are associated with its use. the third
In parr of the chapter
shall consider the work of Karl Mannheini. Mannh einis ldrobgy and LJspia
is a key text in this complex history; it focused the concep
t of ideology on die
general problem of the social determination ofrhoughr,
and thus created tIre
analysis of ideology as coex tensive with the sociolo gy of knowi edge In
nal sections of this chapte r I shall resist the rendcn cy. exenip hfied b,
Man,theims work, to generalize the concep t of ideolo gy. I shall offer a
formulation of the concept which preserves its negative charac
ter, wInch
F ocr crIes he curicepL ideolo gy lia occupi treats it as a critical concept but which rcjec any
i)
ed 4 cenal, if at times sugges tion that the anal sis
mv nou. acr in rI de velopruent of social ol ideology is a niatter of pure polemic& 1 shall fonnul ate a concep
and litica l thought tion of
C)xsialiy introduced by Desrurt de Tracy a label for ideology which draws on some of the themes implicit in the
a propos ed science of history of ibis
ideas, the term ideology quickly became a weapon concept, but which seeks to provide a basis for a constnicrive approa
in a poLitical battle ch to the
hud out on the terrain of language. Originally imbue interpretation of ideology in modern societies.
d with aLl oi the
confidence arid poine spirit oldie Europe an Enlightenment, for which the
lu r it dcctibcd was supned to repicnt
a culminating suge, ideoko gy
quickly became a term of abuse which alleged the emptin Ideology and the Ideologues
ess, the idlenes s,
the sophistry ofcrtairm ideas. The concep t of ideoLo gy had a difficu lt birth
,d. s lus ter.: nec enough. the subseq uent l& history The term kleologv was first used by
the French philoso pher
w hardly bliss Destur t lc
itL Iakci tw in differing ways
by the cnlergi iig social science Tracy in 1796 to describe his project ofa new science which would
s of the be cclii.
unetremi and eriy twentieth centuries, the concep
t of ideolog cerned with the systemanc analysis of ideas and sensan ons, of
y was pulled their genera
in one diretnon and pushed in anothe
r, and all the while it tion, combination and consequences. Destutr de Tracy was a
remain ed a term wealth y and
Ii placed role n the political battles ofevenday life. educated nobleman who had studied the works of EnLigh tenmen t thinkers
When we use the
-o:.cpL of ideology tuday we employ
a concept which such as Voltaire, Holbac h and Condil lac. While de Tracy suppor
bears the traces. ted many
Le.vevc-r tim)tly of rhe niultipe uses which characterize irs the reforms associated with die French Revolution, he. like
hisiory. other ntellcc
In this chapret I want to retrace the historical contours of the mas of noble descent, was imprisoned during the jacobin 2 Terror. To de
concept of
ide&tgy, crrh a view nor oniy to highlig hting die twists Tracy and some of his fellow prisone rs, it seemed as though Robesp
and turns of a ierre
u1Hp:e1( illeCnia I[iTier ar5. but aho to prepar seeking to destroy the Enligh tenmen t. For these inte)le cnnls,
ing the way for a more die barbar ec
COusflttCtnt- approach I want
to inquire , no only into anarchy of rite Terror could be countered by a combin ation
the origins and devel of piizlos oph
upnicnt of this concept, but also into the prospe cts for refonn and education based on the systematic analys is of ideas: this was how the
ulating the
pr todsy to?- reconcepntalizing ideolog y in a way which legacy of the Enlightenment could be pursued in a revolu tionary age. While
draws upon
:tcupuuLitd sense oldie concept while avoidin g many exnobles and nrellecmals died or were put to death
the many pitfalls which during the
can he dieter nec in its past My account of the history Terror, cit Tracy was released from prison soon after the fall ofRobe
of the concept 4ll, spierte
icccssazUy. be selective and will neglect many figures in 1794. In late 95 de Tracy and his associates rose to a posino ofpove
and diversions which n r in
would merit discussion iii a more thorough survey. But the new republic with the creation of the Instiru, Naoonal. The Institu
I shall aim to dent t was a
i ( the mal contours, the main lines ofdevcloprneiir replacement for the royal academ ies which had been
in a history which has abolish ed by Robes
by no liieails drawi to a close. I shall begin by discusing the pierre. 5i addition to an Acade my of Scienc es and a Class of Literat
origins oi the ure and
monccit of dcalo IL 1 4(e eighteenthcentury France. Then I shall examine Fine Arts, the insatut i,icludcj a Class of Moral and Political Scienc
es. The
 30 The (ncep( jdeok
7 hr C.n ept of ldcvkcy
lance class was headed by a secuon concerned with the analysis vision of the perfectibility olhuman beings throug
of sensations h educat ion, and Condil
arid ideas, section to which de Tracy was elected LII 1706. lacs method ofanalysing sensations and ideas. They
ii; I racy outlined the aims of the new discipl
attribu ted the excess es of
ine for which he had the Revolution to the fanatical fervour of rhejacobins rather than
assumed responsibility iii series olmenioirs delivered to to th re
the Class ofMorsl lurionary institutions as such, which they saw as pillars of
awl Political Sciences in die course of pro2rn s and
796. Follow ing Condil lac. de Tracy enlightenment. Given this close connecn on with republicanism
argued that we cannot know things in themselves, but only , the fate of
the ideas formed the doctrines ofde Tracy and his associates was dependent w soinie
our ttisations of theni (Iwe could anal extent or
se dec i&as and sensanons in a the fate of the Ruvolurion itself. On his return from in
sysicrJane way, we cuuld provide Ept 1791, Napi> icoii
a (ii In basis for all scientific knowledge Bonaparte staged a successful cep and becam
and dray nteiences of a more practic
detat e hrsr Consu l, a posirio i
al kind. The name de lracy proposed which he held, with complete author iry, for ten
r this incipient and ambitious enterpr
1 years. Napole on drew on
ise was ideolo gy literall y, the some of the ideas ofdeTracy and his associa tes indevi sing
Science of ideas kicolog> was to he poidve

a new constit ution
, useful, and suscep tible of and rewarded some members of the hnIit.z with lucradve politic
rigorous 3 rxacrirude, GenealogLcally it was al posi nuns
the first science , since all But at the same time he distrusted them, 1 or their affiliation with republican
scientific knowledge iivoived the combination of ideas. sm presenred apotennial threat to his autocratic ambitions, Hence
It was also the basic Napole on
ofgramniar, loc, education, morality and, ultimately, ridiculed the pretensions olideology: it was, in his view, an abstract specul
the greates t of the a
nr.., that ofreguladng society in such a way that tive doctrine which was divorc
niati finds there the most ed from the realitie s of politic al power
hc[pand he least possible annoya nce January I HOD an article in the .4fessager In
from his own kind. Throug h a careful dcc relatio ns errieu res denoun
ideas and sensanons, ideolo ced the
gy would enable human nature to be group which is called by rime name metaph ysical faction ido]o
understood, and hence would enable the or gues and
social and polinc al order to be re which, having nrushandled the Revolution, was Flow plottin
artanged iii accordaucc with the needs and g agains t the new
4spirar us of human ingb. regime. As public opinion began to turn against the Revolu
6 tion,
Ideology would place the moral and political sciences on Napoleon
a finn foundation who later claimed to have coined the term ideologue? expl
C Uft Oiem at error and prejudice
oited this shift iii
an Enlighten 01cm faith that de
order to disarm the represent ariles of republicanism.
Tracy inlirrited from Condillac
and thcon, Napoleons opposition to the ideologues intensified dunng the following
Wlile dc Tracs envisaged the possibility of extending
the science of ideas decade and reached a climax as the empire which he sought
to the Ocia and political realm, most to establish
of his contributions were concer ned began to collapse. The niologues became the scapegoat for the
with the analysis of irreilecrual faculties, buns of experie failures of the
nce and aspects of Napoleonic regime. Return ing to Paris in Decem ber
logic and granmiar. His four-volume Elemem dIdeologie, publish I HI after the
ed between disastrous Russian campaign, Napoleon accused the ideologues
80t7 and 815. examined the faculties of thinking, feeling of undermin.
, menior) and ing the state and the rule of law. Addres sing the Counc il of State na
judgcinenr. and the charactensdcs of habit. movement and spetch
the will, among subsequently published in the Moniteur, he condemned ideolog
other tiungs. he Tracy y aid
becam e ncreas ing)y concer ned with the develop characterized it as the very obverse of astute statecrair
men r of a consu,tenr and ngorous naturalism in which liuniat
i beings are
tcgax ded a part of niarerial reahr s one rather comple We must lay rlic blame for die ilk that our fair Francc has
,
K aninul species suffere d on idco
amu tg otlir;s, Hence. ,n de [racys view. ideolog y s part rha shadnn- lnccapII sics which subtj watches for first causes
of Zoolog y. and which to base the rn
thc analysis ojuinali facuines is essential becaus e lcgislin on oIpeop te,, rather than rnakirmg use oflaw, knostt
our unders tanding ofan to the human heart and ofthc
animal is incomplete if we do not know its intellec tual faculti es, lessons ofhisro ry. These errors must inevita bly
Dc Tracys and did in fact lead to the rule ofbloodthir,ev
later writings conunued the original project of ideology men... When someo ne suni
enihdding this project within a thoroughgoing naturalism. But
qiu science of ideas. nioned to revitalize a sTate, he mus, follow exactly the opposire pnnripis
by the dine les
these wnnngs eppcared, the term
ideology had acquired a new and quite As Napoieons position weake ned both at home and abroad
diflrenr sense, a sense which would soon eclipse the grandiloquen , his attacks on
t aims of ideology became more sweeping and vehem ent. Nearly all kinds ofrelig
its Incnn)t. ious
amid philosophical thought were condem ned as ideolog y. The term itselfhad
Dnwu de racy and his associa tes in the lnstiru t iJiniir nal were closely become a weapon in die hands of an emperor struggling
i inLed to die poli nc of republicanism. They gdncrally shared Condo desperately to
rcets silence his opponents and to sustain a crumbling regime.
 ]hc Ctiruep ?i
it thu t;oti of N apoictari in .kpri I I 4 am] the res ri ciona se I 1dereniri nan,s 4
B Lrb dvi iat. roran on of the ]au na bei,ius . Yhe w a. , hic ii
H I Cr de wa rena mcd to a pos[tloll ol pohn c,pressed vary co,isidcra lily from one -
f ci cii Cal figure c, niol I er. I for di Fc-a
ti by lwii his original prograinrile link was direct and explicit (ideology
of ideology had been was [lie prre ui Hen C science
sbci b thu 0 L0
i cts 0 o the Napoleonic period. would facilitate progress iii hu na,, ilfai rs..
0. iia ved of as die pi cc mine sciriace, (or Napo leon at w a U) upiaci
rlac cc iencc of ideas oppositional (ideology was the pretentious philo
by rc idi Hg a soph rlia in ctred tel>:
eniatic account of the genesis. com by trying mu determine polincal and pedagogi
lc.i oil of ideas. ou
binadon and cal pri ici pies or the basis ot
U provide a basis o
1 r ierni fic k abstract reasoning a lone). The unique contribut
ge c rai and won Id facilitate he ri arural IIowIcdgc iii ion of Marx c insists in tIC
regu latio n of society in particu ar, fart char he took over the neari cc, oppo
Otfu Ii aJ be<
sitional cerise con eyed fl
[3 r out- onur irario n iniorig others arid
irs philosophical Napol eons use of the term, bitt rn nsh,r,ned
Lad h ei-r iraipro mi siJ tav cs the concept by incorporating
into a theoretical framework and political
Mo reo r, a thi [ci I ideoli gy
asociano ai witt, repu blica ni sm programme which were dceplv
slippud in to rue political arena and indebted to tile 5tt of t ie Enligh tenii>en
1
K at as
pl ilosophers as an emperor undrr siege, the
tn fence of the I cr srnse and
began to lange. It ceased to refer
si/t
oiiiy to the science of
a it
1 laugara i rrtr a so rh ideas flu ,nselvr, r bar is. Mans Conceptions of Ideology
arc- ifInicd to be r,ronro
[0 .2 body ideas
u3 and .iivorrr djrtin (lie pratiic al
- IU sea realitie s fpo1iiIcal
oh [lie (crl also changed. -r r could Marxs wntings occupy a centr
o ui long er lay claim al posi tion i ri the flistory of the ci iicept of
u a chic pos Live pi ii t of the En lighten meilt. ideology. V/ida Marx the Concept acqii Ted inc
ivi. arid ci re-c ni ii-: nr cietai-c, . itt] ly Ideology qua Sta [US a a cli Heal too! anti
of the highes t respcc as an ijiregra I coni lent a lie W titenrencal steil t. But
way to tdcoic gy quo a hstrac r a J ci liii F. gradu ally spite ol tliC
importance of Marxs work
son ideas, wort h only ofde dsio n in this regard, the precise ways iii which
al id di siam. One cii
it- basic opposi ions dii empLoyed the concept of dcoloev. and Mark
have chsra ctcri zcd the histo ry the an in which he d ca r it i the
of [C [Or ICC{) r of de Ligv that bee irian issues and assumpnoni surrounding

en a sjtIve or
p neut ral sense. on rhe irs uie arc by no meat is lear.
ii aid and a ncganvc or cr1 Indeed, it is- the very ambiguity of the conc
Heal sense. on the ocher had already ept of ideo logy
a jJpi-a tC I kUic: c d ad r of ts life. aichou

which is partly responsible for continuum debate in Marxs work
gli the rorm and cont ent of this s conc ernin g the
II. .15 is to ha ii ge c oo.sidera his wri rings, In this sect oii I shall nor attempt to egacy of
hi y ii the dXades cli at ed exarili tie all ii tht di fEe rent
c tic-fl iIc 0 Desru n de [racys origi shades ofineaning which may be conveyed by Marxs
nal project of ideology seems varied uses ofrhe term
SaL d [y U pr SIng Lfltla\ ideology, ior shall I trace the ways ii wi
[I le in I bin otis gcnerah [V st this project,
id i preceded and succee
likc rha r of cit this tern is cup ovd b
u-es
ded it, was born id to give way to the Marxs assocates and ollowers. such as Engels
, Lenin, Lukcs and Grnisc I
cur e cjccjjizeJ discipli rics ts inch could shall seek instead to identify several dish active theo .
purs ue parti cular fields retical contexts n wh cli
I ou J y depth. tu mdccci by the rensi nn the concept of ideology operates in the work of Marc
on 1 ira flu scie cc. W liar is ii ieresnng re of a wc,uId be Iii doing o I shall
about de Trac origi

attempt to elicit scvenal distinct concep nons ol ideo
o [-.0 s ija I proje ct is log in Man., coiicept:;as
i I Ore and oi dci it ui the proje
ct tself(i
i which vcdap ,rIi one another, of course ,
lrcadv I ar c] fisrgortci would be coral rdee d, his writi ngs, hut whic h nevertheless relate to
k neglected today had different issues and to different movemen
in kt ci to he c oflcpt
they nor been ts of thou ght. For Mans work
0: ,de dogv) but the fact [liar
this proje olkrs us not so much a slngle coherent vision
ct high light s the of the social-historical s odd
unit, nc ii lit concept oI ideology eincrgetl and and its consnrution hyii tics and developnient, bun
Ire II flu.. sic cry. began its ra tier a ii ninpI [ci ry ot
he on cept errierged as part oft it atren] Pr to views which cohere ix sonic respects and conflict
.dcuis or tin Enlighte rime at it the cont develop rile in others, which converge
ext of the social and political on sonic paints a,d diverge on orhcrs.v ews ss huh
opt a- b. th at a dud rh r birth of mod art s;,iieni lies csphcitn
ern societies. However far the articulated by Nta but which 3rc sonleti nfl Ic
one epr .-1 id-oic gv Ii as travel ed since h iniphcit a talc atgLi ni ruts
the days of the bti.,r Ngrional, and analyses. I shall try to show tlia r these diffe
rent views create distinct
ist i-tel t:Lnccj it-,
uses have become, nuverr helcss theoretical spaces. as i r were, in which several
ideaL, of lw Etilidcun,neiit, HI plirridlilar it rema ins tied to the coitccptiors of ideclcgi co-
io the ideals of the ranonal
exist without btiia g clear] fjrttiu lard or cogel clv reconc
ii ig of ri ic w rid nile] tid ng the soda Ihistorical himself
d by Mdn
world) and olth
 :34 JhC frSCC
)
1 ? lty
The 1 conceptojldcu
g y h 35
atcount, isa theoretical kccrine and activity which tiioneOusly rekia niS dea a .:Utvnr
tfejhin; flu polernital
--
C!h
coir(ptze,; incus and qjwaitous and winclrjaus to grasp the rea conditions a,,d character,suts uJ
socialhistorical 44. This polemical conception is indebted to Napoleo&s
M aix wa Luruliar t ith rue wurk of the French attack on the pretensions of the ideolo
iJoIues and with gues, in so far as it shares Napole ons
N apoieon an c k on ho ring his exile in Paris 1
it contempt for the preoccupation with ideas divorc
-
I +45 lie had read and ed from practic al polinc ,
\c erpted onw of I )cstu rr it Tracy s worL It as iinmcd iateiy arid in so far as it reflect the conviction that such ideas acid preoccupauon
after this s
period that Marx and Eiigels composed The Germa n Idevlo illusory or misleading. But the way in which Marx and Engels develop
. a length y text in
winch they crinciz e lie views of die Young Hegelians such their conception, and the uses to which they put it, go well beyond the aims
iiu er as Fetterbach,
-. J S r in chars; reriz i rig the views of ciiesc and dehber ano,,s of Napole nn
-
thinke rs as the
Ccc man Jeoiog Man and Engek were following Napole The originality of the
ons use of the polen cal concep tion of ideolo gy lies not so much
ideu:ogy md were drawing a comparison betwee n the in die concepnon itseilas the fact
work of the iii that it is linked to a series ofassuniptions
sdevkguei and tharoithe Young Hegelians: the work the concerning the social determ
of Young Hegeli ans ination olcons ciousn ess, the division of labour
the euivaelit. iii die relatively backward SOCiaL and politic and the scierinfic study of the
al condit ions social histori cal world. These assumptions
C cri) 0 ijeteel ilcen run Gcrrna i y. of the drx trines of de Tracy and his form what may be described as the condit ions of possib ilir- of the polemical
a -ociatea.ad ia Nailt-o n had poured scott on these conception of ideology, Let us
docttin es, thus examin e each of these assumptions ir rori,
gimg tIlt tcrlnI ideology a negativ e inflect ion, so too Assumption la the forms of consciousness ofhiuman
Marx and Engels beings are determined
dended the views of their compatriots. Like the ideolo by the material conditions of their life. Thinking, conceiving arid, more
gues, the Young
i-I.. gill an> red ucidur dit- ius it chat the real generally, the production of ideas should be regarded, not
battle to be fought was a as autono mous
bacdr ot ideas. tiit by along up a critical an mdc processes and even less as processes which prescribe the course ofhisco
towards received ideas, r,, but
teaiizy itsdll con il be changed. Marxs and Engchs cniiqu rather as processes which are interwoven with, and essentially determ
c of the Young ined
Hegehans cridcsl thinking was an attempt to disarm the by, the munda activit
approa ch of their ne y of human beings collect ively produc ing their
en r hilt- assocratcs [heir ai was to debunk and discred means of subsistence formul
-
it the philo In ating this assum ption Marx and Engels are
aepitical Sn uggl with the shadows tif reality. which appeals to primarily concerned nojuxtapose their approach to what they regard
the dreamy as the
iudfl.i Gcrri- ii The Young Kegeli ans idealistic philosophical practice
ionY though t they were ofRese t, hs follow en and cTidcs In direct
radical hur were :ii fact quite conser vative, mere contrast to German philosophy which descen
sheep who rook themselves ds from heaven to earth, here
Or Wolves, to I-?nndirl their views as we ascend from earth to heaven But they also want to claim that this
tic Germa n ideolog y, Marx and ideal
te discredit them by associa non with doctrin stic philosophical practice the fact that it is idealistic,
es which had
that it takes ideas for
Iite: fercencle dci,,unccd cn France severa causes rather than effects, that it therefore misunderstand, ins
l decade s earlet. own charac ter
in The Gennan Ideal oy Man and Engels thus employ the as well as the character of the socialhistorical world which it
term ideolog y seeks to grasp,
In a polci inca] v? a>. Their target is specifi in a word, the fact that it is ideological they want to claim that
c the views of the Young rhs is itself
I ler.ci ani-a ci deolug, &s us ci as a cr111 abuse.

of The views of the Young the product of patticuLar material conditions, if we assume
F-Iegd Ian> arc idciiogic al In die sense that they overcs the social
nhiiare the value and determination of consci ousnes s. we can see that the ideolog y of the
..ie ad Ideas an lisrory and in social ale; they Young
consid er conceptions Hegehians is an explession of the relativ ely backw ard social, politic
daotio,hrs, ideas, ii &ce all products olconsciousness, to which al and
they attribute economic conditions of Germa ny. The point, moreo ver, can be genera lized.
an in LI epeaitlcnt cx snencc , as die real
decidreti rheni clw true bonds of human sociery)i
chains of men ust a a the Old Hegelians
Hence the
This is what Marx and Engels propose In an ofiqunted passag
ideology men and their circumstances
e: If in all
Young appear upside -down as in a camera
titer i 1E iFPO st.deas with ii was. they flghr obscura. this phenomenon arises
pliracs wa cii phrase s, and as a just as much from their histori caL life-
resuk they krave the real world unchan ged. They fail to process as the inversion of objects on the retina does from their physic
ee the connec tion al life
between tin-ar ideas and the soctal-hisrori caI condin ons olGerm process.hl While this passage is most memo
any and they rable for the cryptic analogy
fail t i_ heir criflclsni any prac tica cite nyc force. We niav with a camera obscina, an anaiov which has ensnared more
charac terize than one
r-lu u ol he tort n ideology as the polemical coricepti in: ijeolog commentator, the main point is the claim that the practice of regard
y. tn this ing
 36 ie
7
? Cincep( qfldevlogy [he Conctp /JJcily 37
consciousness and ideas as a con noth and erncacious, and hence of historical circumstances, as the views of die Yontig Hegelians, lot naiiplc,
regarding real individua]s in d1cr actual c,rcumsrances as the products of car, be shown to be but a mirror of the real and wretched condioon of
ideas rather than thc prod a en cit the,,t, b itself the outcome of particular Gemiany. They should be replaced by such a science in the sense that, having
sociai.historx al en ml ens a rid processes, just as the inversion of objects on been shown to be dependent on circumstances of which they arc
the renn a a rises oni t heir pit 5LcAI lifeprocess. and having thereby undermined their claim to autonomy. these theorerici
ihe pncniaca conception of Ideology also linked with an assumption doctrines and activities lose their credibility and give way to a successoz
cci Eli CT d visi n at labour .4ssiimptian ib the development of discipline: the positive science of the socialhistotical world. Whete specu
-a Joe t r:c: and ac 1 n Cs w Inch regard ideas a autonomous and linen enth in real iie there real, positive science begrns the represcilla

ade ,,ossi h bidir hisrorit ali ejne rgent division between don of the pracriral activity, of the practical process of the developinenr f
a: r;.aia air?. al about M aix and Engei pi a primeval state of orert Empty talk about consciousness ceases, and real knowledge has to rakc
3 i vidiials were con it,us of hale cisc than their
I, cl i a its place This assumption indicates the proximity of Mart and Enge)s to
eed ac r flrJ ace eTlt i ronmen r nd their limited interactions the original project of Desturt de Tracy, in spite of the many differenccc that
it nai heiri s Con IousIitss, at this stage, was mere therd separate them horn him. or although Man and Engrls regard tie Tracys
cuncs :c: it abh i;trrv overt with the material conditions of life. project as the epitome of ideology in die sense of an abstiact and iliuson
Ba -aJ Lal s- on or labour developed initially as a division of theoretical doctrine, they nevertheless share de Tracys belief in the nents ni
iab:mr in LIlt sccuai at and then as a division which developed spontane positive science and, more generally, his faith in the ideals of the Enlighten
at atucaii b virrue of different needs and capacities, such as ment- It is one of the ironies of this complex conceptual history Lilac what
rt-ct-grh. Eventual, a dIvision emerged between material and beg an life as the allegedly preentinent science, the science of ideas, bccaziie
n:e.ra. ur. a diisiun LIlac enablcd those individuals engad in mental part ofa theoretical approach which claimed the title to the throne ofscicncr
En rroducc d as v.lmc I
see med to have an independent e,Jstence. to while denouncing its progenitor as a traitor.
cc roned b ajerlal ifrproccss and to have a htoty and a
A Leo- I?. Fire di ision herveen nntenai and mental labour also
rccn,ccjchc,c irid:nduah from sccIng chat thcy were labouring undcr the Ideology and class coflscioac,cs, the evzphawrnenal ccrncepfl tin
While the concept of ideologywas initially employed by Man and Engel In
iili.:.Inci,t ar,:ard t,nsciausnc frT ically latter itself that it Ls the context of their attack on the Young Hegelians. it subsequently acquired
soincilum ocher }iii t-nsciousIiiss of exiinng practice. that it really a more general role in their characterization of social structure and historical
repi-esco 0 sense!,, ng w hour zepresen ring something real; &om now on change. This more general role is already evident in The Germ in Ideology,
cOriSCIOflsllcsi IS Iii pusinon in cliancipate itself from the world and to Marx and Engels begin to link the production and diffusion of ideas Lu the
proceed to the onnanon olpuir riacoiy, het,fogy, philosophy, ethics, etc. reiadon between classes. The ideas of the ruling class, they remark at one
point. are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class whiub is the ruling
-Vise ftwrrianon of pure theory, theology, philosophy, ethics and all such matthal force of society, is at the same rime its ruling intellectual force. 1 his
suck:, as Marx and Engels provocatively put it, marks the emergence pas&age fores6dows the development of a new conception of ideology, a
of
ideology in the sense of theorencal doctrines and activities which suppose conception which emerges more clearly in Marxs 1859 Preface to A Con
themselves to be auronon-on s hen, in fact, they are not tnbution to the Critique ofPalinca! Economy and elsewhere. We may describe
The thIrd assumption linked with the polemical conception concerns the this new conception as the epiphenomenal conception, since it regards
p-eject of a scsendfic study of the socialhistorical world. Assumption Ic: the ideology as dependent on, and derived from, the economic conditions and
theoretical doctrines and activities which constitute ideology can be class relations of production. Ideology, according to the epiphenomenalconcepinni,
explained by sizeans of and should be replaced by, the scientific study of is a system of ideas which expresses the interests of the dominant class but which
society and history. :rEiey can be epiained by means of such a science in the represents class relations in an illusoryforni, Ideology expresses the interests of the
that they can be shown to be the product of particular social and dominant class in the sense that the ideas which compose ideology are ideas
 e (ncepc cqldeokgy
7
387 The Qnepr of Ileology 39
aJr particular Ilistoncal period, articulate the ambitions, concerns form, of consciousness arc nor to be taken t}irir
at face value bar are s
LI
htui ichbcraduns of the dominant social groups as they struggle to
1 explained by reference to the economic conditions of producnon
Risc
set tire and mainta in their position of domin ation. opinion of an individual is nor based cm what be thinks of hiirise
But ideolo gy represents lf .
cLass relations in an illusor y form in so far as these ideas do not accurately nienri Marx, so [we cannot] judge of such a period ofrransforniarion
by its
ttra; vlrc iarre and relative positions niche classes concerned; own consciousness IS To understand socialldstoricaL change we mast
rather, they
truM cprcseri these rtatioits in a way which concurs wxh the interests of the by examining the development of the econom ic condit ions of produc tion.
d...ini ant L3S5 which can be detcrnuned with the precisi on of natural science , and our
With dc formulation of die epiphe nomen al concep tion, the notion knowledge olthis development will then enable us to explain time ideolo gcal
of
ideology acquires a systematic cole in Marxs theoret ical framew forms of consciousness characteristic of the period concerned. Moreo
ork This ver, by
Ira e-rk ts 5krLclxcd float succin ctly, if somew hat simpli explaining ideological fotms of ccmsciousness in this way showin g
sdcaly, in the by

ior
:5 }rciacc. There is no need here to ekamine the Prefac
e in detail, since i example, that declarations ofehe sanctity and universality otpriv are proper ty
cowennons are well knowa But we shall gain a clearer view of the are expreiotms of the parncuLar interests of -a class whose donmitiance
and
epiphenoinenal conception of ideolo by considering a short passage from livelihood depend on the possession of such property we can also u,,mask

this text, Having noted that a period of social revolution breaks our when the these forms c,icons ciousn ess, To unmas k a form olcons ciousn ess is to show
tie xpatiding rc of producnon come into conflict with the cxisnng that it is illusory. mistaken or witliotit ranona justification; it implies
not
of production. Marx elaborates as foLlows: only that it can 6e explained by reference to socioecononiic conditions, but
also that it umisrepresents these condit ions or that it has nojusn uicatio n other
cunslcermg such rans&nmarions a disflncnon should always be made than the ernplrical]y demonstrable fact that it expresses the parucu
lar
h<cween die material rruisforrnanon of the economic conditions ofproduc interests of groups whose positions are determined by these condit ions. The
7 nd anhcdc-zcrmined with the preasior. of namraI leace, md the very characterization ofa fotm of consciousness as ideolo gil. accord
.
ing to
i-ca, lk[in.aL irJigiouI, acschetic oi phIosoplc
in short. ideological tornis this conception, implies that it can he explained and thereby imnniasked
as an
vinct IICfl bcon] c,,nsc,00s ot this conll:cr and Fight it out we expression of doniinanr class interests. Hence an inquiry chat presen
. . ts itself
annorjudge of oich a period of transformation by its own consciousness; on as a science, concerned with investigating the economic conditions of
social
die contnry, du consciousness niust be explained rather from the contra life and explaining Forms of consciousness on the basis thereof,
can be
ictt material life i
.
harnessedin the senice ofa u*ique which unmasks forms of consciousnes
s
and, more specifically the theories and concepts of philosophers and others

ra urn this and odier passages in the Preface and elsewhere, We can eliot some as ideological.
of the assumptions which underlie the epiphcnomenal conception. Once

The epiphenomenal conception of ideology is linked to a third assump

again. I shaH focus cm three key assumpnons. Assumption 2a: in a given society
cc.&ti disritiguish berveera (i) the economic conditions of production, (ii)
rIte legal and political superstructure and (iii) the ideological forms of
cc,ousnes, The precise content of each of these categoes is nor spelled
our unambiguously by Marx (whether (iii) can always be clearly
disonguisimed from (ii). for example, is a moor point); and the nature of the
relanons bcrv.cen rhe>e various *peas or levels ia society has been a matter
ofexrcnsie debate. What can be said uzicontroversially is that Marx assumes
that the economic conditions of production have a primary role in deter
mining the process ofsocial)dstorical change and chat they should therefore
be regarded as a principal means oi explaining particular socialhistorical
raii ifurri at on S.
The fin .n.surription cads dirt-cd to a second. .1ssumption 2k ideological
don concerning the progressive character of the modern era. In previous
forms of socicly the relations berveen dasses were always interw oven with
religious and sentimental ties, so that processes of exploitation were veiled
by
feelings oldury, honour and worth. But with the advent of capitalism, these
traditional values are destroyed and social relations become visible, for the
first time in human history, to the individuals involved in production. This
radical transformation associated with the modern era is vividly described by
Marx and Engels in the Manifrs,o oJshc Communist Party:
Constant revolutionising of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all
social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the hour
eois epoch from all earlkr ones. All fixed, fastfrozen relations, with rbeir
train ofancient and venerable prejudices and opiniomis. are svcps awv, all
 new Tue Cn;eepc afIdechy 4
onuod rme L,eruine arFnLiOaCId yrlore they car, ossify. All that is solid ri production, these ri-dis iduats
nit!. ui. dl tat lick is profaned, and flay continue to took elsew here , ni.lv iuiaa
nan is at las compelled to fiee for something past
F).5e5, his
ca L-,ndaiions ci lifc and us relas or may cher ish imag es and ideas which do not
ons with his kind their interests as a class. There are the elein a,-ncnbtc
erus here ala diffe rent conc cpn
of ideology. a conception which nay be form
cmr it ci the modern Capital st mod ulated as fllow s: deot y i-i a
the prol ounJ upheaval asso e of praducnoii. system ofrepresentations which sens
to sustain trisUng rtIatiois ojrla don
ciatud vi di ts ceas eless expansion, which renders orientating individuals towards the pas rather than ss Na
:1 ci .t10115
2 an spa rent to individuals the fi4turt; r rouards inaes ii
a id compels then , to lace, with ideals which conceal class relat
hr r:rse-. tlirl r real ondtn,, ions and detra c,fro m the collect iie pursuit o[socuil
s o4 lifc Assninpsion 2c: the dcvelopnien shall dtscribe this as a latent concepnon
Let n capital isni creates the condi nons r of change.
of ideoo) fur i
tr a clear understandi n of soctal reasons. First Marx does tot use the term .
ti die eli dna non of the
class an tagoitisnis upon which ideo ideo logy in tie contexts where
this latent conception emerges. He speaks, inste
r ide Li tsr nine In Imu
toiy he subordiriare class can under ad, of illusions and fixed
oosi QOFF as a class a rtd ideas, of spirits and ghosts that lurk among
thin die the people anti so!ic:r their
Dl )sj don wi
histo rical proc ess more superstition and their prejudice. So we can
&-a on
-
n tore sell as the r evolu riona ry class, the class whic speak of this as a onception
nippc:d with knowledg h, ideology in Marx only on condition of recognizing
e and experie, ice, is able char we are extending the
not niere ly to hero ine a term ideology to refer to a range of social
Le tb 02 , c las, but U) Ci inN
ia Ec classes as such hr phcnonwiia s hich Mars
I di h ; proe raria t is a described wxhour naming, phenomena
ids the uni Crsj I interest ol hun aiti
t ass which he perceptively and dis
ty ri its grasp . The prog ressi ve. concertingly portrayed in his conc
Jynaiiiic character of the im dern era wi rete analy ses but which, -at the teret ct tin-
I ensure rhc uln nate victo n of the ory. he did not subsume tinder a discrete
cci:! a t U 4 V titic r trriip conc eptu al label
c)rr setbacks, but i
ci u I tilt- long run noth ing. The second reason why I shall
describe this concepnon of ideology as
dii 1,1 ti ogit i 01 of hon rgeois apol ogis
ti
way i idced, as the hour of victory [s, can stand iii its
latent is chat it refers to a range ofphenornena
tears, a hand ltd uf bourgeois which do nor dt nearly nrc
tdeo logisis the theoretical framework sketched by
A ha ii lot F ihert c ass
and oin tones with the prol rtar jar, winch Marx in the 859 Preface and mro the
they will account of the modern era presented in the
Ifln- to i ccognhIc
ai. the champion of ii nina Man1esro. For the phenomena
ni tv as a C
1
I10 Ihe demisc ol refened to by the latent conccpnon
Oi3 rCCi i5 ideolov is au a I an
red b cht liove of ideolog arc nor mere cpi
nien t of histo ry itse a p her,onwna of economic conditions and class relat
dc p rolerarit viii I;revi tably ci iage symbolic constructions which have som ions; rather, they art
as the harbinger ala
iCW cia, e degree of autonomy and efficacy
They constitute symbols and slogans, dust
onm and riadinons which
people or hold them back, propel them or cons
train them, in such a way rhr
we cannot think of these symbolic construct
Lieu a id i/ic spi ri ts uf the past: a Li ten con cepsia ions as soLely devermined lw,
and fully explicable in terms oC the econ omic cond itions of producroi.
Moreover, the phenomena referred to by
a! pa rrs of Marxs work , how ever , in the laten t conception of ideology
whir ii the niovemeil of history attest to the persistence of traditional sym
appears xi be son cwhat less straightforwar bols and values, of that train of
d. The visioir ala grow i kg si mph ancient and vejierabte prejudices and opin
sal antagonisms the gradual red urno ions at the very heart of modern
-
n of all social conf licts to bourgeois society. These traditional symbols and
tie nppttsl 0< ii between bourgeoisie values arc nor swept away
and prolc raria r and the prog ressive once and for a]i by the constant revolutionizin
iii te, nc it ol die proletariat itsel I g ofproducrioii; they live omi.
rhi ison is coun tered by a view they modify and transform themselves, inde
a ii LU dcpict dc presci xi as a scene of ed they reappear as a potent
cciit plex i rv rathe r titan simplicity. of reactionary force on the very eve oi revolution
uI n pie sdiisr,,s U tint than one grand oppo itself The latent conception
sitio n, of indiv iduals captivated of ideology calls attention to the fact that
ni prcsssoii Irvin tie past. acting our their socia l relat ions may be sustained.
historical roles and soda) change arrested, by the prevalenc e
iprc-.elicrlpts rathe r thais iowiedge detived through expeti or diffusion ofsymbolic con
structons. It calls attention to what we conid
ci ce and sciendfii lw esngati< m It is a view whit tells a story
2 describe as a process of sth
of defe at and conservation within a society uridergoingunp
ri it-iti Is dso i-mew which suggests chat, at a rime when recedented socialcharigc, a pea
socia l cess which Marx acutely discerned but the impl
ills at C sOp)c ,scd
be ncrcasmgly visible io the individuals invo
to ications of which lie was,
lved perhaps, reluctant to draw out fully.
 4? ? n ideo
The Cirzcipi uJJdiVIo) 4.)
uconsider jar a noflent Mas account of the events leading
up to such as the re-intro
rLp-- ;p .1 ela fl 1_uns Npoico ix Bonap arte iii December I 651 as presented duction o 1 the wine ras, were cvclutionizint fite
I he 1: hrrcn ru Brumiire vi i_uii Bonaparte peasantry and were, Mans suggested. driving them into a cotnmnohl tint win
Marx certainly trrays these their namral class ally, the proletariat. Two
-
conainoin-d by the develo pment offorce s and relanon years later, however, writing iii
s ofprod uc
mr ti th bourgeois monarchy of Louis Philippe. ft was this deveLop
the aftermath of the coup dcar and with the benefit
of hindsight, Marxs
murit which had iatd the fiuadadons optimism was temperd Revolution was sdfl on the
for the emerge nce of large scale agenda . but the
1
cni
nd TitIurI iai proletariat, dew, had shown that, instead of being imminent,
.ia
which had deepen ed the divisio n it sa still ounacy ine
between the Login mists and the Orleanists through purgatory? Why, instead ofgiviiig rise to a thorou
and which had produc ed the ghgoin g revolu
cnjiiiic cnsIs 847 that precipitated the don, had the events of 1848SI given rise to a reactionary
pohuca l upheav als of l848. But regiiiic which
Marxs aunt I b- no IUC3IIS couched exclusively in these terms. parodied the past? lVjnt was the basis of this regime
aL
On the which had rolen rue
coi tran. what is niost striking about Manss account is chat it portray flame from the revolutionary hearth? Marx argues that
s the Louis l3onaparw was
cyrurs o 84i-- 51 not -as the inevitable outcome of proces able to stage his successful coup because, among other things,
ses workin g them lie represented
sels out at rite level of the economy, but ra titer as the most numerous class in French socien, the small
events caught up in holdin g peas antr.
in lag: b rh pact eniiarc While their class interests coincided with those the of
d by tradi nuns w hid, persist in pite proleta riat. chc smal l
au tug ant rxnarori oldie material conditions of iife Thus of the con holding peasants were nor yet ready to take up arms with
the proleta riat in
The Eighteenth common struggle They were not yet capable olpursuing a
ptis id: this celcbrarrd pisage: their own interes ts
in their own name but require d instead a represe nuriw who wou d com
pensate fat the fragutenration of their life condit ions
lie tt dtnot of a the dc-ad criera nons weighs like a nightmare on the brain by appear ing above
them as their master. And why should
-
ci n< And List Wiitfl they seem engage
d in revolunomsing themselves
Louis Bonap arte, that bungling
J bureaucrat, be elevated to the pcsinon of being both the
dngs. creating something that has never yet existed , precise ly in representarne and
such the master of the peasantry?
pnod- f te u-.lti nonrs cflsls they a ixiously conjure up the spin rs the
of past
diet service and borrow om them names, battle cries and costum
alder
es ft
Lu [rcsnr the new cnc if world histo,v in this timehonoured Historical tradition gave rise to the beliefofrhe French peasan
anti this borrocd ts ii the ruracl
:igUir 2
augu ac that a man named Napole wouldon bring all the glory back to them.
individual innwd up who gives himself our nd an
as the man becaus e he bears [lie
r rite vrr moment when human icings are invoiced name ofNapoleon Alter a vagabondage ofrwenty years and after
in creating their own
-
grotesciie adventures, the
. .
a series of
in undertaKing unprec edente d casks, Legend finds fuffiln ienc -and e
6
t n-an bccuinn
they draw back before the risks Emperor ofrhe French The fixed idea oldie
and anccrcainnt: of such an enterp se Ncphe w was realise d because it
and ijivoke represe ntadons which coincided with the fixed id,, of the most numerous class
assure them of their continuity with the past. At the very of he incitel,
moment when people.
;on un; i di tea retied they invent a past which restore s the cairn. From
I84 to was the ghost at an old revolu tion which appear ed in France , The key to undetseanding why the events ct
the bungling and lackLustre Louis Honap arre hiding be}uad 848S I culmin ated in a cup
the death mask dja, rather than a revolutionary upheaval lies in the fact
otNapokon. An entire people, which had imagin ed that means that the peasants,
by ofa revo who compriscd the largest ciass it. France, lent
unIon it had imparted to itself an accelerated power 1
o motion their suppor t to Lank
, suddenly Bonaparte; and they Lent their support to him because they
finds itcIf set hack into dfuncr 2 epoch. While French society was were captiva ted
convulsed by an economic crisis and seemingly on the thresho by the legend of Napoleon. they were entranced by a figure who
ld of a new presented
rvulueioxl. it was drawn backwards by the weight ola traditIon which, himself as a saviou by
r donnin g the costum es of their onetime hero. Tue
in the coup dew, can be explained, not by showing
rhat the key classes acted
1 nohilent, a could
flint nor shed accordance with their alleged interes ts (which would
sign fi-i r that M ark, writing in 1850 of the everm of 8489 , had
have led to a quite
still different result. but rather by claiming that they acted
envisaged the possibility ofan immin ent resurge nce ofrevo in accord ance with a
lunona ty activity tradition winch was reactivated by the words and
in France under the ieadcrshi p of the proletariat? Government images ofan impost or.
measu res, Marxs analysis of the events of 184851 thus ascribes a central role
to the
 44 I ( ept Idec Ii-y
1he Ci tIC (-p( t/ - I[ Y -
yn tl,n cc ins which compr se tradi non and hich, at a dine of crisis, doctrines and ideas ct,nstinitive of ideology belonged to
cay draw ptOple hack into die preven ting the rcairn of al,
past. them from perceiving their straction, misrep resenta tion and illusio n; they
\ICLCR icr-rcsb and troni acnng
exprns ed the interes ts cii the
to transfo rm a social order which dominant classes and they tended to sustain
prr in A traditio n the status quo: they were phenu
ncs can bold and rake bold ofa people. can lead them mena whith co&d be explain
u beii ye d tI ic past is their future and ed, uumas ked and accord
ing to as [cast
char a master is their servan t, and conception implicit in Marxs work ultimately replaced
sia rhccelw sustain a sc cdl order
in which the vast

by the scienrifi
majori ty of people are analysis ofrhc material conditions ofproduction and social change
Wi tot ond I tions ut doicuna non and exploitation. . There
Let the dead bury no suggestion in Mans work that ideology is a pccinv e, progre
_r d c,Ll nip lorc M .ir; die social
1
reValuflots of the ninetee
ssive CT
nth century unavoidable element of sociaL [ile as such, IdeoLogy, tar Marx. is
cannon dn it-s poetry from the past, but only from the fuwr the
e. But the symptom ofan illness, not the normal trait ofa healthy society and even
cic,cd rc nor buried For die less
so easily symbo lic rrns transmitted from the the medicine ala social cure. In subsequent Literature, however, the concep
[ac an coicsirunvc of cvcd ay cusroin s, pracnc t
es and beliefs; they cannot of ideology rends to lose this negative sense Both within Marxis
lisp ed 1 kik c man m and
ten cadave rs, since they piay an active and within the emerging discipl ines of the social science s, the concep
Iii dancetzta role ,n pies yes, if Marx underesdnntcd the significance t ci
pet
ideology is neutralized in variou s ways eve-, though , in the sphere ofever
LI IC i be lie LI cc elision ot sac ui life,

y
he nevertheless glimpsed its con day social discourse, the term ideology colitmues to convey a ne2auv
nec 1 he c rne of midni icteen r, even
rhce ntury France . In highlig hting pejorative sense,
U: .1 Ri eiiiCr, aurds and images can teacnvate
a traditio n that serves to We can trace this process of neutraiizat,on consid by ering briefly
sustain social oider and to bar the path
, to begin
an oppressve
of social change , he with, the fate of the concept of ideology in some of the contrib utions
ceaked ,uc the theoretical space Rr ie conception of io the
ideolo gy. it is a con development of Marxist thought alter Marx. The neutral i,adon
winc ii shi hs u r arren non a way front the abstract ideas of die
of philo concept of ideo]o gv within Marxis m was not so much the result
s piiiai acid iicorrtical docrnncs, focusing it instead on the vays at an
in winch explicit attempt to transfo rm the concep t as the outcom e dan impiic
s nibol, arc used arid rransfo rc ned n gen
in specifi c social contex ts. It is a concep eralization of what haveI called the epiphe nomen al concep
wI: ek urCci u i t .anun tion of ideology,
e the wa> sin which social relatio ns are created agener.Iizanon which was part of the concern to elaborate strateg
a cc su sun ned by the sy icibolic lotus ies ,j (jass
which circula te in social life, raking struggle in particular socialhistorical circum stances . Thus
ii o people and on rnranng em Lenin, analvs thg
ti in certain directi ons. Later in the the polarized political situation in Russia at the turn the
chapter shall return to this latent conception of century , called for
olideol ogy and try to develop the elaboration ofa socialist ideology which would comba t the
a te ii. uc v a- y u Iii St we dust consid
influen ce of
-
er some of the subsequent bourgeois ideology and avoid the pitfalls of what he called
clt:pmeirs in dccc husrorv of the concept sponta neous
tradeunion 2 consciousness, Lenin was concerned to
sns5 that the e-
1
pro
tariat, left to itself, would nor develop a genuine socialist ideologyq
rather, it
would remain ensnared by bourgeois ideology and preoccupied with piece
From Ideology to the Sociology of Knowledge meal reforms. Sociali st ideolog y could only be elabora ted by theoren ciaris
and inteliectuak who, detached from the demands of day-to--day struggl
After Marx rice concep t of ideolog y e.
assume d a major role both within are able to gain a broader view of developmental trends and overall goals.
NI ar,is iii and within the emergi ng discipl ines of the social science s. In this While not produced spontaneously by the proleta riat, sociali sm h the ideol
CCI ttXt cacarig attempt to survey the niuhip le and varied uses of the tern, ogy of the proletariat in the sense char it expresses and promotes the interes
s ]:ccks c at be d Scer ned n this vAde ts
rang;ng literatu re. I shall try in,read to of the proletariat in the context of class straggle. A similar use of
hm hligin a central tendency which is ev,den the term
t throug hout this literature, a ideology is evident in the work of Lukcs. Reflecting in the early [920s
Ii ich I shill describe as the neurrjIzzawn
on
zex:derc, w
oJdw concq( of ideology. In the tasks and the problems facing the workingcLass movement. Lukcs
tiwwrcnngs of Man the concept of ideology preserved the negativ opposi
e emphasized the import ance proleta
of rian ideolog y in determ ining the law
a scItsC witidi it hd acquired the hands of Napoln. Tb neganve of the revolution There can be no doubt, in Lukcss view, that the prolet
sense we inflected in dilIering ways by the various conceptions of ar
ideology iat will eventually accomplish its world histori cal ,nissio n the only
lid It NI a c &irk but die sense
ques
rs of iegaovitv was common to all. The tion at issue is how much it las to suffer before it achieves ideolog
ical
 The Cn ept tiicioe
1
ii ia ia my, bclor,r it acquir a true understanding of its class situation and
a of the epiphetiomenal conception and neutralized the negativu sense
true class consc iousiless.
2 Since the proletariat is immersed in the social conveyed by the term in the writings of Man.
his itical process and subject to the sway both of reification and of bourgeois In developing this argument my primary concern to docurnemir an
ogv die & celopmen r o ideological maturity may require tire media implicit trarlsformnatio,i of the concept of ideology, not to level all art:ick
at
I pam hich as orga iuzanc,r,aI lv separate from the clsss and which is Lenin and Lukic or ro call for an unqua litied retort, to Marx. There arc
a Var rt dfllcu a tc d:e Tateres(s of the class as a whole. elements in the writings ofLubcs ii, particular his nonon ofreificarion

3) tic v sh to ennhirie the ranuficano.is and reline which are still important for the analis 01 ideology and to which I shall
the anabigu ivies ,iac si tarions and j consislencles, of the formulations return at a later stage. Moreover, Mans comments on ideology are
so
of iun and Lukacs. Such an examination would lead us away from the elusive, ambiguous and fragmentary, so replete with speculative and
cenrial theme chich concerns us liere and) in any case, derailed commen questionable assumptions, that it would be credulous to call for an unquah
ta ne on thc r C ws arc readily available in the Ii terarurv. The cv, tral fled return to his views. If Marx helped to highlight some ofthe issues that
- i i I ida u dwdll is the way n WIULahe u of the term must be addressed by the analysis of ideology toAay. such an analysis must be
- rid lags of Lenin and L ukacs involves an niphicic neu Eral based on assumptions which are quite different from those made b Marx. 11
r cot I j cohss Dra ing on Marxs epip henoinenal cut
-

we may continue to dray from Marx the idea char the analysis ofidcologv is
H :r t C CX Cfic otciass struggLe, both Lenin and a critical activity, inseparable from a rel]ecdo,j on the relations ofdornirLatiol
Lo s eticco sri y gdneraiiz this conception, in such a way that ideology in which individuals are enmeshed, then we must also acknowledge rhat the
crs to ideas which express and promote the respective interests of the way in which Marx proposed to conduct and justify the activity of critique
rnaior classes e:aaged an conflict. While both Lenin and Lukics emphasize no longer be sustained today. I shall return to these issues in due course.
daar tie Ideology of the proletariat is not necessarily produced by the But first I want to examine the treatment of the concept of ideology in the
-
L. c Malomg coune of events, they nevertheless stress the work oFKart Mazutheim, whose IJechar,d Lzopw represents the first systc
:nip.rLa :cco elaborating and diffusing such an idcology in order to over macic attempt to elaborate, outside the tradition olMarxism, a neutrai con
uhL-tL C c:hstacl&-s 0 revoLurozL Hiscorc rnatcdisrn, remarks Lukcs, is ception of ideology.
cuiog hr enihat tied proletariat, and ticked is the most formid Mannheni was familiar with Lukicss work, having studied with Lukacs
abh: Weapon at the University of Budapest and
has struggle. But to use the tern, ideology in this way is to having been appointed by Lukks to a
elinr nate whaa we Inay call the asynirrierrical aspect of Marxs epipheno position ar the University while the hatter was deputy Commissar for
atiena! concepnon. Marxs conception involves a certain asyrumeny with Culture in the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic. Like Lukcs,
3
reaard to rite basic classes j rivolved in production. The ideas consritutivt of Mannhcim emphasized that all thought is shuated within history ami is part
ae adas hich express the iiiteres of the dominant class they are of the socialhistoncal process which it seeks, in turn, to comprehend. Bu
dcas WIULh express class interests as such. Man never spoke ofsocialist Mannheini was not directly and predominant ly concerned with the
it:, iHa. - .r t-sr-.an idcoior. and he never characterized histoncal theoretical and political problems of Marxism: he was pnniarilv concerned
iIaatrriaiasm as ri-c tdeolog of the proletariat. He did not suggest that such to develop a way of srudyuig the social coi,ditio,,s
of knowledge and
an idi ology won Id endow the proletariat with a correct understanding ol its thought. Lacer in his career, following his forced emigration to England in
class situation, interests and aims. Marx was too familiar with Napoleons 1933, lie became increasingly preoccupied with pedagogical issues and with
art-a k on the pr rccnsi ns ci die deolog to employ the term ideology with analysing the cultural aspects of sociai reconstruction and change. When
at Un 1 t- positive sense. Far from staking our the pnvileged
a Man,ihei,n addressed the problem of ideology in the late 1920s. he did so
.s.cnac is ha ii the p-[oiclariat would march to victory, ideology, for Marx, within the context of an attempt to elaborate an interpretative method for
ih.zract dt (flues and diuson ideas which could, perhaps, snidving socially situated thought Mannheim harboured the hope chat, by
dir r.ctaria astray Far toni being a vapcn which the proletariat bringing to light what he called the social and activist roots of thinking, his
could Jcpioy in mrs struggic. ideology was an obstade which the struggle for methodological approach would make possible a new type of objeunvity in
socialism would, perhaps, have to overcome. In generalizing the tist Of social science and would answer the question as to the possibdity of the
idtoicgy, Lenin and Lukcs effectively eli,ninated the asyminiecrical aspect scientific guidance of political life.
 4 Jo iico! y
-i hr (in Idcii, -1.
If, in cxprcssing this hope. Manuheim appear ed to reflect the aims of idcologicaiarialysi. With the final transition to
RI Cl Tracys original programme of a science of ideas, the genera l forrnuh irion, ideo.
rha passed through the prism of Marxs work and
Wa a reflec- . logical analysis ceases to be the inteLlectual weapo n
ci
acquire d a new of a parr. and iLt
of taiL swenricthcentury thought. ft passed throug
starus instead a jierhod of research in social and intelle ctual
h the hsran a
which Mannheini describes as the sociology of
.
prism o Mans work in the sense knowl edge. The aim I this
that Marxs discussion of ideology is seen
by MaUCLI ci method is nor to expose and discredit the thought
as a dcci si ye phase in the cransi non from a panicukr to a of ones adversanes, but
cor:cepucn cii deJoy. Lh a particular conception rather to analyse all of the social factors which influen
of ideology Masrn heim ce though, including
in c rs I da conccpri >n Inch ones own, and thereby to provide modern men with
remain s at the levei of more or a revised ve I
conscious disguises, deceptmzis less whole historical 34process.
and lies, We impi y the particu lar COnce pflOn While the transition to the sociolo
Itoo *hcn e cxprcss scrpno sm toward s gy of knowl edge involv es a renutic ia-.
the deas and views non of the evaluative character ofearli
ads ,incc by our opponents and regard them as nhlsrep er concep tions olrdeo logv. it never
resen tarions of the rhetess raises epistemological problems of
tea it of the situation, A total concep its own. It is Mannh c,nis credit
tion of ideolo gy emerge s when that lie confronts these problems in a direct
0
we Sift ur at renrio ii to die characteristics of the total and explici t way, even if the
structu re of mind of answers that he offers are ultimately unsadsfacron
,zij rpoci; Yr 4 secial hirori ai group
such as a class. We imply the total . Th episteiiioiciicii
1
.cpn ii iwi s c seek to grasp the concepts and modes problems raised by Mannheims approach
oF thought and are what may be described as
cxpcrien c, th 4e]zansdiuuu
epistemolc,cal problems of radical hisio,icism, If
ng or world view. ofan epoch or group and to all biowl edge, including the
knowledge produced by the sociology of knowl
Clii LY UU L as ais on rgrn%s di of a coLlec tive lifes ituation. The particular
edge, is socially and hisrori
con:cpt!: ranain at the level of caily situated and is intelligibie only in r&arion
individ uals engaged in deception and to this situation. then hu.
can we avoid the conclusion that all knowl edge
crca the total concepnon has to is i,icrely relative to the
do with collective thought socialhistorical situation of the knower? We
sysir isis s Isiell are rclared to social contexts. can avoid this conclu sion,
Mannheinz argues, by distinguhbing betwee
w, Marx was the ft si thinke r make the rnnsiti n relativ ism and rcIaiio nImi
to on leladvisni is the tesuir ofcombining
I T.IIc aflI I Li hit t the total Lonccp the quitele gitima ce recogm
non of ideolo gy. but he did so iii a v ay socialhistorical conditioning of thought with uon otthr
wn]th retained clenients of the particular conception. an old and outdat ed theory of
He moved beyond the knowledge, a theory which takes propositions
par culai coracpri cia in so far as he sought to trace that are true analytically (e.g.
philoso phical and mathematical formulae like 2 X 2 4) as the
due rnnrs and ideas back to the class position of their expone
paradig m oF alt kiiowledge
nts, Compared with such a paradigm, forms of knowle
octri es and ideas in die i4 hisro dcai conditions of classes dge which are dcpcndcnr
wi c inicresrs the) express. But Marxs approach on cocialhistorini conditions are bound to
retained elenients appear as merely relative. Butil
of the we reject this outdated theory oflcnowlcdge, then
pat ICHia conccptiol] in so far as he sought discred it bourge we can see that all histori
to ois though t, to cal knowledge s relational knowledge and
nnize lie thought o 1 las class advers ary, while raking can only be formulated and
for granted the understood with reference to the
pc! 311 on w}nch this critical activity was carried social histori cal circum stances of rite
out. Marxs approach knower and the observer. The depend
-ne>ided: so sciighr to interpret and criticize hi, opponents ence of hisroti cal knowledge on
thought in socialhistorical circumstances is nor a fault
ia c,r, text, but he did not apply the same approach to his which vitiates this knowledge.
but rather the condition ofpossibility ofknow
own rhoii,c I knee Mannheiin draws a further distinc rion betwee ]edge in rhc socialhistorical
n what sphere.
it a k tn sp& ,al ormulatwn and the generdlfrrrnulacion of the total concep
Mannheim recognizes that relationism does
LIII cii eulogy. NI an practised (he special formulation; iwhat now not as such resolve die
is question of how one can discrinnnate
Li any to take lie final transition to the genera
l formulation, between (ruth 4nd ikin, in the
such that domain of historical knowledge. At most. relario
It anal his the to mbject nonj tiism disposes ot a nih
ii rage USC the advers arys point of view Ivading response ,o this question, a response based
hut JI p iuts if view, ricluding his own, to the ideological on an old theory of
analysis knowledge, and prepares the way for an alternative
Idici!oiy ord I{ Ii fhzsentnhl fr.iulaciun. nay be regarded as the nteruoven approach. But the alter-
-ysflt t fluclii and ,,iude native sketched by Mannheim ii idn il nd (Jlia
3 &/cxpenenee which are cond&iwied by social tircun, is hardly norc plausilsIc
than the response that he sought to put aside
red by rusqa j udi vi,iuais, nriudrng the ind&idnals engaged n The knowle dge that we cat!
acquire in our investigations. Manitheirn suggests,
is partial knowledge
 i reLied to ch target body ofkn
w Concejt ofIdcohiiy 5
7
1
owlrdge md truth. iid ultima tejy to
0 c structure UT hitormc aI real the p-artisan character of earlier accounts and to rransfo
ry itself, like so many par of a whole. r,sj the a:lai3:
liougli we sailijol hope to grasp Lhjs whole in an immediat ideology into a sociology ci knowledge which wouhi
e way, we can be baed on the geIier.i
n-v grasp as many parnal perspectives formulation of tile total conception of ideology.
as possib le and to integ rate them Ideolo gy, in this new
into a dynairoc, LOInpZChCiSsIvC synthesis. The programtue, referc essentially to systems ci thou
social grou p which stands the ght or ideas whiLh
ha of >roduimg such a synthesis is socially simated and collecrivey shared: and ideological
the grou p char Alfred Weber analysis the srud
err :3 tO rlx- soc ally un-attached in relligenr.sia. Rela of the way in which these systems of thought or ideas
is
tivdy classless and are influenced by the
riot iou tr fly sated
in the social order, the intelligentsia
social and historical circumstances in which
wa exposed to riley are situate d. Mannicinis
cidier, rag vLt:wpwnts and rncreasingly sensitive to new programme thus seeks explicitly to put
the dynanaic, hohstic aside the critical, negattvc
ch:racccr ot souery a,id history; by virtue of their connotation associated with the concept of ideolo gy
very social position, they since Napoleon, and tm
etc abie 41 reconstruct the original project of a science of ideas
3 to produce a syn thesis which
mc iiie
wouhi be free from any which would havr
cu [ar sin on, practical, political consequences. lint Mannheim
knows that tile pruiect
liii s sot aIogIcai iege kanim cannot be pursued in anything hke the manner
-
prov:d cs Man nhei jn with a basis for a orignially proposed by
Icr the r r no i inanve undertaking: Desnitr de Tracy. For as Marx has shown, ideas
-
that of diagric srng the cultu re of an do nor exist in an ethereal
ch is an tins context tha Man tiheim xncrod nwdium of their own but are always condition
uces a soniew liar different ed by social and historical
a iact pucan ui ideology and con crass it with the nonori factors. so that the study of ideas must be, in Man tdiei
of utopia . Ideologies ms terms, a socolog
and uumpia. are corn c-pruaiized herc as ideas which are disco ofknowledge. Moreover, the study ofide as is itself
rdant or in sociall y and historically
cohgruuus with reality. Badi ideologies and titop situated. Hence we cannot simply treat it as a science
ia transcend existing and suppose that its
reality flic sense chat bey project modes of conduc
criteria of vabdity are seifevideTit and beyond douh
t which cannot be r At the epstemohgical
realized within the limits of the existing social order. Burw evcl, the sociology of knowledge must be explica
hereas ideologies ted as a self-reflective
sucteed dtIuhI in realizin historicism, rather than construed as a positive science
g their project ed i nodes of cond uct. utopias in the mould of the
rcalizc their Content to sonic extent Bali ghtenme or.
and thereby rend to trans form existing
sea Sal realir In accordance with We mayjusdy ask, however, whether it is useful and
the modes of conduc t which they project. helpful to regal d tin
.src pure projecnoiis which have new programme fbr a sociology of knowledge as the
no transfo rming effect on the legitimate heir to, or as
so:al-bistrrcaL world, diereas utopias coextensive with, the analys is of ideolog y- Man
arc ideas which are evenmally nhei m himsel f appears to be
rcahzed, to some extent, In this world, somewhat ambivalent in this regard . Whi le in some
I shall refer to this notion of ideology contex ts he emphasizes
Mar ii ciuFs restricted conception, a conception the limitations of earlier conceptions ofide olog y and advocates the general
which can be sun intion of dir ideological approach, in o,bet passag
nrizcd as rollo%s: ideas which are d&ord es hi suggests that the
deaiogies are
anc with reality and 14n study of ideology is necessarily limited arid can
in tice. Mannlleini acknowledges chat, In actual circum therefo re he disnug uisleed
stances . from the sociology of knowledge. Indeed, at one poin
I rrnay be diUacul to d stinguisir betwee t, he even sugges
n ideologies in this sense and utopias, ts that
the dhririanon presupposes a clear conception of social it might be best to avoid using the term ideolog
y in the sociology 6 o
m w f
historical ledge, replacing it with the more neutral notion of
rcaiir7 id a hypothesis about bechcr cernin ideas wouki perspective? Hut ilthi.s
eventually be is so, then one may well doubt the success of
re. azed or or. Since this hypoth esis Manriheims attempt to
could only be conf irmed rerrospec generalize and neutralire the concept of ideology. Even
rwciy, die ciircri.an ofrealiaan on is at best a supple in the wake oF thu
mentar y and retroactive attempt. Maniiheim acknowledges
standard ior making distinctions between facts which that the genera l form ulati on of the total
as long as they are conception ofideology is no, perhap
contemporary arc buried under the partisa n conf lict ofop inton s, a concep tion of idrt k after all,
. it lacks the moral connotation which is
There is no riced to exan luir Man oheinis views in further detail here. an essenti al aspect of that concept
wrating abound wick difficulties and ambiguities His Even in the wake of his attempt to extract the elemen
which wouLd require ts of the sociology of
siderabi- spai to analyse filly, What 1 wish to highlight is knowledge from the residue of problems traditionally
the way in associated with the
which ri ir c nvral thrus concept ofideology. Mannheirn concedes that these
t of Mannh eims discuss ion results in a neut raliz ation problems may, after all,
of [lie COflCCt Ui ideology. Mannheiins primary concern is to move desetw to he addressed separately, by an approach which
beyond is disonut horn and
complementary to the sociology of knowledge.
 2 Pi:c (hi:
lit C neep! ill it
anti :- rcs:dueof problems be adequaceI
grasped the more
-
by rwic ted doing I shall not anempr to rehabilitate any particular conception of
coucpdon of ideology introduced by Mannheim
and juxtaposed to the ideology, nor shall I propose some grand and sweeping synthesis. Mv aims
iiotaon ol U tO a El t&te is an inreres nng and import ant compa rison to be are both more constructive and
mad:; wUeer thc coiicept of idrolog y and that more modes t. They -ate more LoTist rot live
of utopia . but the sped& the sense that I hail seek to develop a new formulation of the concept
Min::hcin makes tiu comparisoti is questionable. 1
the evident Apart from ideology rather than rehabilitating sonic previous conception. Tins new
proble ms associa ted with
crittrion of realization, one may doubt whethe apply the socalled
any attempt to
formulation will capture the spirit of sonic earlier concep tions but will not
r Manuh eims more adhere to the letter of any particular account. My aims are more modest
;erl L(r,j inception or idcniog is itselfa n
-
plausible formul ation. Ideolo gies the sense that I shall make no attempt to syndiesize the various concepticr13
n a< count, are duas which
-
axe diwordanc with reali and unreaU
an p acricc, the are siriadar to utopias but are zable highlighted above, as if the complex history of rho roncepi of ideology onhl
jun more extreme utterly now be brought to natural
arebic acic-us ak-aS, as it weic. One may wonder
a culmin ation; the formul ation which I shall offer
whether, ilone applied these is a contribution to this history, not a hid to bring it to an end. Mv aims
mcli sarricriy. diere would arc
be anythi ng that could be called ideolo gy. it is
prh.ips elya:ifn au that the cxatiip also modest in the sense that I shall leave aside many oi tile assuiiipnons ar:d
c
1 which Mannh eim adduce s of an iden
logy ira s scnsc is the idea of Christian brotherly jove claims sometimes very ambitious claims that have bern associated wuh

in feudal society,

wht cas a v dc range sildoct rines the concept of ideology. There is no need try defend and justify the
and ideas, fi out zr,iHen-aflanm m to liberal to to
n: alnmu flisnI. are ttearcd as
assumptions and claims ofconcepdons of ideolo which gy re best treated as
utopia s. But the point I wish earlier episodes in a lung and tang]ed history, Of course
j cc: :5 that Ni an i heims restricted conception , tile alterTi anve
prec-rvcs i of ideoLo gy formulation which! shall offr will imply assuni
e negative connotation associated with the term
6 ptioiis ofits own, and I shah
by focusin g on undertake, in this chapter and elsewhere, to explicate and substantiate
tv1o chatacterisrics, those of discordance and unreali these
zabiliry what is neglected 2SSUUItiOflS
z:p dus ocriii4iit he piu-norne:wn of domination In the writings of
-
Marx the Let me begin by distinguishing
-r iden uv as inked to tic notion of donunacion, betwee n two genera l )yes ot conccp tioii
in the sense char of ideology This distinction will enable
We nkas or rcp uscnu[ions consorunve of ideology us to classif y the vatmu s cnricep noiis
are in some way inter of ideology into tWO basic categories and will
WOVt III express nisreprescn r. sustain relatio it serve as a spring board for the

ns of class domin ation. development of an alternative view. One genera] type is what I sin
ml. be phenoii enon ot deunna non 11 call
is lost in Mannh eims neutral conceptions of ideology. Neutral
30CC pnuia, which in this
regard has more in concep tions are those sJrcla
NaptIcona conception than with the concep
COHIi nOri vi cli the purport to characterize phenomena as ideolog
tions of y or ideolog ical wjthou i
ideolog y that emerge implying that these phenomena are necessarily misleading, illusory
in die writings of Marx, In the remain or
ing section s of this chapte r I shall aligned with the interests of any particular group. Ideolo according to thr
pr to c-ever the ink between the concep t of gy,
ideolog y and the pheno neutral conceptions, is one aspect of social life (or form o
r; o d 3flhirij don and to develop this in a Wa which 1 social imiquin;
wil I provide a among others, and is no more nor any less attractive Dr problematic than i,v
defensible conceptual basis 1r the analysis of ideolog
y in modern societies. other. Ideology may be present, for example, in every political programme.
irrespective of whether it is orientated rewards revolution, restoration
Redankitig Weology; A Criticdl Couce reform, irrespective of whether it aspires to the transformation or the prc-
pciou enatien of the social order, ideology may hr as necessary to subordiintt
In rht previi ins srcriotas I h-ave analysed seine of groups in their struggle against the social order as it is to dominant groups in
the principal phases in the their defence ofthe status quo. like military hardware or tactica
histor-o rL conccpr of ideciogy I have highlig hted l know- boy
some of the specic ideology may be a weapon which is orientated towards vitrofl hut rovard
up non1 of id clog which emerge iTt the course s
of this history . from no particular victor, since it in priaciple avaiLable to any coaibatant who
I )estutt de 1 ncys science of ideas to the various concep
tions dibcern ible in has the resources and skills to acquire and employ it
the wti flogs of Marx and Man,ilwim. now wish
to move bond this his We call disting uish neutral concep
oria, riqul ry and develop an alccrnacive formulation nons of ideolog y front a second
of the concept of genera] type. wInch shall
I descnb e
deol c wEt iii iws On some- of the coninbunons exarntn as critical concep tions of ideolog y.
e-d above. n so Critical conceptions are those which convey a negative enrical or pejorat
ne
 NC uoruep jldcotvgy
I he Cncerr of idcicv 5;
,L-flst- .inIike neutral conceptions, critical
conceptions imply that the logy is a phenomenon to be combated and, if possib elimin
,hcn,nie characterized ideology or ideolo
1 le ated. By
gical are misleading, illusory contrast, the conceptions of ideology offered by Napoleon,
,r one -sided; and the very charac terizati on Marx and Mann-S
of phenom ena as ideology carries h eim (in what! have described as Mannhevns resrictcd
with an znpncit criticism or condemnation concepflon) are all
of thcm. Critical concep tions cndcal concep tions. They all convey a negative sense and imply that LI}e
nt ideology differ in terms the
of bases upon which they imply a negativ e phenomena characterized as ideology
cnse We may describe these diffenn are susceptible of criticism.
iiSOLitCd with parncular conceptions
g bases as the criteria of gasitty The criteria of negativity, by virtue ofwhic h the diffrre nt critical conc
-
1 _ c
of ideolo gy. The distinc tion benveen flails convey a negative sense, vary from one
ad critical conceptions of concep tion to anothe r, hi
deo)og y, and the differe ntiation of Napoleons use of the term ideo)ogy convey ed a Iegan
of negativity, ruables us to classify the ve sense by suggest
variou s concep tions of ideo ing that the ideas concerned were both erroneous and impractical,
Lg> 4 v.m
i ,icd n carhei in rernm of the scbema presen both ntis-
ted in table I I This leading aid divorced from the practical realities of politic al
.CliCflA ird,tacLrs that the conceptions of ideology develo -
lit. Marxs
ped by Descuir de poiemical conception of ideology retained these two crirena
ii acy. Lenin, Lukcs and Mannh eim of negativ
3 ir
(in his genera l formulation of the total while shifting the target of attack from de Tracys science
.ince)tiofl) share ira common an important of ideas to the
characteristic, in spite of the philosophical speculation of the Young Hegeli ans. With
,ILaJi (ntIcreikcn hat separate these thinkers. All of these conceptions the transit ion to
of Marxs epiphenonienal conception, the cnreria ofnegariviry change
Jeok)g\ arc neutral cOnceptions, in : the ideas
the sense that they do not necessariy which constitute ideology are still illusor y, but they are
a neganve pejorative sense and do not necessarily also rrgarde d as ideas
imply char ideo-. which express the interests of the domin ant class. The latter criterio n is
replaced by another in what I described as the latent concep tion olideo logy in
Table 1,1 Marc Ideology, according to the latent conception. is a system ofrepre
,sai ancn o selected concepnons of ideology senra
tions which conceal and mislead and which, in so doing. serve to
sustain cia
dons of domination. With the subsequent formulation
of Maaiil ieirns
Critical rnncepoc.is restricted conception. the cnreria of negativity revert to
those which were
charaaerictic ofNap oleon s use of the term and Mans polem ical conception.
Conc tptio., Criteria This schema could he extended to encompass more recent
.\cutra! conttprions o,fdeoIogy
contrib utions
of twgafltq to the theory and analysis of ideolog y. I shall not, howev er, undert ake to
extend this schema here. I shall consid er some recent contrib
)esmtL ic Fraci Napoleon utions in the
AN following chapter, but I shall do so with a slightl y differe
Man nt aim in mind: I
MS shall be less concerned with the specific concep
Marx 2 tions of ideolog y employed
BC by contemporary authors, and more concerned with their genera
Marx I Dl) l accounts
of the nature and role of ideology in modern societies. Nevert heless, as I have
indicated in another 1 context, most contemporary authors
who wnte on
I Mannheirn 2 ideology from Martin Seliger to Cliffor d Geercz , from Alvin
Mi

Gouldn er to
Louis Mthusser employ some version of what I have descub ed as a

ncutr-$
conception ofideology. Ideology is conceived of, in a general way, as
Mn< poiemcal conc-epnon
systems

of beliefs or symbolic forms arid practices; and in some cases these authors
Man 2 epiphenotiwnal cdncepnon
like Ma,mhcirn several decades

3 httr .Jnccp aon
ago seek
explici tly to distanc e themse lves
generai from wharthey regard as aresrricrive or evalua tive concep tion ideolog

formulanon of total concepnoa of y.
Ma iInr, .Mmnnhejm.c restr,tted concepnon In developing an alternicive approach to the analys is of ideolog y. my aim
will be quite different. I shall seek to counter what I have describ
A rac Ut In pc ac flcai ed as the
neutralintion ofthe concept of ideology. I shall attemp to t formul ate acrid
eprcsscs $ennnrit Interests cal conception ofideology. drawing on some ofrhe thenies implic it in earlier
st,stdtns iclano not dommanou conceptions while abandoning others; and! shall attenip. to show
that this

 56 TheConccptoJ1deIoiiy
oiiccpnon j,rovidc basis l>r a fruitful and defe 1 hc Concq oj LieClgy
of idcc,iov, an approach which nsible approach to the illusory. Characterizing symbolic phenom
is orientated towards the concrete ena as dec cgcal don ri
A n& a hi sw cal puenoiueira but sarily impose on the analyst the burden of

which, at the same dine, demonstrating char the pheno
preserws the rirical character bequea mena so characteriz ed are in som e sens
thed to us by the history of the e w. What we arc iitercsted
4
1
here is nor primarily and not initially the
truth or falsi ty of syin iboli c ibrzi ,s,
[he ,uiaivsis of ideology, according but rather the ways in which these form
to the con ception which I shall s serve, in par ticu lar circ um stan ccs
primarily conterned wub the ways ro establish and sustain relations of .
in which symbolic forms donnnario,g and it is by no n,cai is
nrerscr with erlarions of power. ft case that symbolic fornas serve to establish the
is concerned with the ways in which and susrai ii relation (joi n na-
Incatung is cnobitized in the social worl dan only byvirrue olbeing erroneo s
d and senes thereby to bolster up us. illusory or false. Flue analy sis oitdc
logy does, of course, raise important &
lio occupy positions of pow and complex qucsrions ofjusnificar
teens inert sharply: to nidy
er. Let me define s and I shall consider these questions ion,
ideology is to study the wap in which in a lacer chapter. But in order to addrc%s
- A .u. surJ in r(ajfl5 / do,ninasion. meathns wrws to these questions in a fruitful way, it
Ideological phenomena are is vital to see that the haracrerization of
mc-aningtul symbolic phenomena in symbolic phenomena as ideo log ical
so jar as they serve, in particular social does nor directly and necessaril Impl
,.unmrsuccs, to establish and sustain relat char these phenomena are episremologic y
ions of domination. In a(Lv flawed.
it is crutial to stress that There are two further respe cts in whi
symbolic phenomena, or certain symbolic ch the conception ofideology which
c lIc I ire nor ideol.it al as
lam proposingdifferssignificantly from
such, but are idlogical only iii so far as Marxs account, hi Marx s wor k, the
I: pa Iticuja! circumstances,
criterion of sustaining relations of
o niaintath relations of doinination_ domination is generally understood
caniwr read the ideological character explicitly or implicitly, in terms ol class .
of symbolic phenomena off the ,-elarioris. For Man, its relations of
b lw pii-; otiiei1 chieriiscl class domination and subordination win
yes We Ca!, grasp symboLic phenomena as ch constitute the principal axes of
ideologica lien cc we can analyse ideo inequality and exploitation in hum
logy. only by situ an societies in geiierai. and in mo
atin g sym bolic capitalist societies in par ticu lar. dern
it a 1 d I: secia hisrori
cal contexts wcthin which these phenom For Marx , it is relations of class dc,nnnanoii
Allay or slay not, serve to establish and ena and subordination primarily between
sustain relations of domination.

the various facti ons of capit al. on the
y ,ir phe 101 ursa do
one hand, and the downtrodden pro
or do nor serve to establish and sustain letariat and fragi iiezi wd peas antry ,
,ciatzons A Jonizntiou s the other which aresusrained by the persi Oi:
ques000 which can be answered only stence oLth iniag
e c and legen d of
carniuin dit interplay of meanin by Napoleon in midnineteenthc
g and power in particular circumstances, entury France. But it i-s importa
-:nailnirrg the ways in which sym emphasize that class relations are nt to
bolic forms are employed. cir only tne farm of domination and sub
cuhared and understood by individuals situ ordination, they constitute only one
ated In structured social conrexa aicis of inequality and exploitation: class
uI U Loan,2 this.
relations are by no means the en? 7
1 con< epflo n of ideo logy I an drawi rig on what I have form of domination and subatdunarioiz.
lest ribed as Marxs latent ccmceprioii. How With the benefit of hindsight. it seem
ever, I am reta
s clear char Marxs preoccupa tion with
L-J i, 1 El. On;V flue cfltenon of negativity as
inin g, in a niod i class relations was misleading iii certain
a defining feat of respects. While Marx as right
ure ideo logy : stress the significa nce of class rela to
naniei nit crten0I, ofsu
sraining relations oldoniinadon. it is nor essen tion s as a basis of inequality and exploita
tr vrnbIrc oon tial tion, he tended to neglect or downplay
no be erroneous or illusory in order for the sign ifica nce ofre lano ns betw een
iuoica They nay be erroneous or illus them to be the sexes, between ethnic groups. betw
ory, indeed in som case een individuals and the state , betw een
logy nay operate by concealing or e s ideo nationstares and blocs of nationstares
mask ing socia l relations , ; he tended to assu rije that class
s:i:crcprcrsenring ItJauo ris: but these are con by obs cur ing at relations form the structural core
ting ent pns ibil of modern societies and that their
sary characteristics. of ideology as such. ides . not nec es formation was the key to a future tram
By trea ting erro r and free from domination. Thes e ciph
IfltISCflT po sihiiutv rathe
illus ion as a and assuniptions cannot be accepte asc
r than a necessary characteristic of ideology d as self-evident today. We live in a worh
can relieve the analysis of ideology of , we today in which class doniinado!i i
some of the epistemological burden and subordination continue to
:thw hid has ices eriwinbered since important role, but in which ocher play
Napoheon ngang in die analysis forms of conflict arc prevalent 312(1.
gy d es or necessarily presuppOse than the some contexts, of equal or even greater fl
phenomena cbaraaer sign ifica nce. If we mu st qual ify
i2cd as idculovical have been shown, or can Marxs preoccupation wiLl, class
he shown, to be erroneous or relations, we mu st also seve r rue
between the concept of ideology link
and class donunarion. This i,,k mus
t be
 Sj
Tik: ( Ia;;
r:ardvJ :0,: ollurguni rather than necs an. Lo kdeoIo
bmd>i ng we may be 3 so here shail simply indicate the ties of analy sis tila r w c d e cc loped
concerned with the W}S in which meanin g sustain s relatio ns of class later. in studying the ways in which meaning serves to establish and susniiri
oumlilation, but we nay also be concerned with other kinds
oldomination, relations of domination, the meaning with which we arc (OIICLrne,l Is the
uh a the structured social relanons betwee n nell and women , beneen meaning of symbolic forms which are embedded in social contexts aid
crii .ic 4 ru, and another, or between hegeinonic nationstare circulating in the social world-
s and By symbo lic forms I unders tand
hose 114 000--sraees ocared on die margins at a global system . range of actions and utterances, images and texts, which are produced
further .cspecl hi which my proposed concep by
tion olideo logy differs subjects and recognized by them and others as meaningful constructs,
M \: ic on is Ins dearcut hut importali r none the Jess. Linguistic utterances and expressions, vhether spoken or ,nsci;bcd. arc-
Since the
au-nit uTcepflon cit ide-iIov as nevet explicitly &,rnulared by Marx. it is crucial in this regard. butsymbolic forms can also be nonlinguistic or
ciitfcuit to attribute a clear and unambiguous sense to it. Howev linguistic in nature (e.g. a visual iniage, or a construct winch cosi,bincs
er, if my
I linilarion tit rh latent conception is ark accurate charac images and words). We can aitalyie the meaningful character of symbolic
terizati on of
fl<s CCC Un, then theru js anothe r empha sis which is. in my view, mis forms in terms of four typical aspects what 1 shall call the inrerti .na[
ads w1 C Mac. Luri 15 his at rentlohl to the role of rile Napoleonic
2
conventional. structural and referential aspects ofsvn,bolic thrm& I herr
rradi
ui he Icgciid of Napoicori which finds its fulfiin wnt in the is a filth aspect of symbolic forms, what I shall call the contextual aspect.
fixed ideas
o die peasan try, what interests him primarily is the ways in which which indicates char symbolic forms are always embedded in socially struc-
this
adi don serves to sus rain a set of social relations which ate established
prior tured contexts and processes. To describe these contexts and processes as
and iridept tides rl of, the ,nohilintiori of meaning in m bolic forrns socially structured is to say that there are systematic difkrentiais in terns of
themseLves. ieterritined by objective relations of produc tion the distribution of. and access to, resources of various kind. Individuals
and by LrCUniStal,ces which are primarily economic in charac situated within socially structured contexts have, by virtue of their location,
ter althou gh
classes ii Ia y not exi&t 1<, r themselves without an appropriate different quantities of, and different degrees of access to, available resources
form of
y[nuot: rcprcseirranun ti which, and through which, they The social location of individuais, and the eTititlenients associated with their
can represent
d Ic L rests aid thci r air, is to i
1 c,nsel yes. The difflcu I ry with this account positions in a social field or irneitudon, endow them win, caning degrees of
Is that r tenth to downplay the extent to which symbo lic forms, and the power, understood at this level as a socially or institutionally endowed
meaning mobilized therein, are ons;iIislipe cj social rca/i , and are actively
9 capacity which enables or empowers some individuals to make decisions.
c cd : creat: I ig a veil as sustain ing rue relatio ns betwee n individ uals pursue ends or realize interests. We can speak of doniiz,ation when estab
and groups. Svnibnlic 1hrn are nor merely represe ntation s which lished relations of power are s ysreniarical asyni metric al. that is, wii em I
serve to
alt, ctnatc ox obscurc social relations or interes ts which particuar agents or groups of agents are endowed with power in a durable
are constit uted
fundamentally and essentially at a presymbolic level: rather, symbo way which excludes, arid to some significant degree remains inacccssible to.
lic forms
a co ri : u ns{v .ini crc ti vel aiplicated in the consdm tion other agents or groups olagenms, inespective of ilie basis upon whirls such
of al
rei..nonu as suth. Hence) propose to conceptualize ideology in terms of exclusion is carried out
the
in which the iiealnng mobilized by symbolic forms serves esiablish to These initial c)nracrerizations of meaning and domination provide dir
and sastain rebtions of domination: to establish, in the sense that backcloth against which we may pursue the third issue raised by the pro
meaning
iLIfl arri CR criraze and institu te rehnoi is of domin ation; to sustain, in the posed reformulation of the concept of ideology. iii what ways cart nieaning
tint iieaning nia ,erve to nn,nrain and reprod serve to establish and sLisrain relations of domination? There are innunier
uce relations of
Li nm an si hi ou gil the nigolng pr icess of producing and receinng able ways in which meaning may serve,
-
in particu lar social histori cal con
i jilsolic forms,
ditions, to maintain relations of domination, and we can answer this
in icr to devch p my proposed re&rmularion of the concep t question properly only by attending carefufly to die interplay a
of idea 1 meaning
risc-i an rhrcc- aspects vlnch require elabora tion: dir nodon and power in the actual circumstances of social life. In a later chapter. I shall
of
11 c-r:i g. he rcpr of dominac, Urn and the ways tn which ,neanin may address tile question in chic way, providing a derailed analysis of sonic
serve to establish and sustain relations of domination. I shall discus specific examples of empirical research. But here it may be helpful to den
s the
notion 01 flitflt I iclg ansi the con pt of don kin a don in sonic detail tity certain general n4odes ofoperation of ideology and to indicate some ofthe
in chapter
I
 .fiJLOfcJ!
ays w itch they rilay be linked , in particu lar flStaiLCeS. with strategies
sth certain niodes, Ink ackniwledgi hg that, iii pa rcicu
CircuT ar c cuni stances ,
,asuijthni in disnn guishin g these modes and develo ping these ny given strategy may serve other purposes and
au v gi Cr ::iodc a: be
CL domi cmi ann not to prvd e ccmipr ehensi e accoun , of the wayt actualized in ocher ways; in mcntioning various strareg
in. nI\ aim
which n me-alto ig may sen e to e-srabhsh and sustain relatio ns ofdoniinanon, exemplify, nor to provide an exhaustive and e%Clusive
categorization The
It y aim s simnpy o stake out, in prehminary manne
r, a rich field of third q ualifmcatio,i is thu. in highlighci rn sonic typical
strategies if yittht ii
maiv it cit slial pursue in greacet derail in subsequent chapters. commsnucno,, I do not want to maintain chat thcse strateg ies arc ideolo gical
I shall dsnnguxs}i five gene-ta! inoJes through which ideology can swdm. No such strategy is in tninsica fly ideolo gical. Wheth er a give) strateg y of
ertm:c: lv mcii a tini i, id sinu adomi, unification, fragmentatio n symbolic construction is ideological depend s on how
and the symbo lic fbrnm
emticanomc. [ahic } 2 indicates sonic of the ways in which these modes constructed by means of this strateg> is used and unde
can rsiol in particular
it k cd di va ricu c rategics of symbolic conswuction Before unfolding circumstances: it depends on wlicdwr the symboLic irm
so coutrutcd
the eL mnencs ol this table let me empha size three u
9 alificad serving, in these circumstances, to sustain or subver
ons. First, I do t, to esra bush or under
-Rant tctai in that chew fi modes arc the only ways in which ideoly mine, relations of domination, Examining typical
strategies of symbolic con
or hat rhe ahays operate independently of one
another; on the strucrion can alert us to sonic of the ways in which meanin g flay be mobi
ry, muse xi odis rna over Lap aid tel nIdrce one another, and ideology hzed in the social world, can cii cumsc ribe a range of p ssibihn ios tot tilL
part ic U .0 cii c umscanc e, operate in ocher ways. Second operation olideology, but it cannot take the place careful
, in associ ofa analysis oldie
aung crrsi H node of operanon with certain strarcgies of symbo ways in vbic 6 sytnbd ic forms ttcrscct with relations oi
lic d,nii na non in ar
U rntru -n uim, I di) Wit wish to irial ntaLzi that
these strategies are mi iqeIy nsa twUlar, concrete circumstances.
sled with these modes, or that the strategies I mention are the oniy relevant Let me begin by considering legal nwriov,. Relarions
ufdutn i,,ation nay be
filOst C nt could say is that certatli strategies are 3picalIy associated established and sustained, as Max Weber observed,
it
by being represe nted ms
leginmare, that is. as just and worthy of snpport.
The represe ntatIon f
laDle I.,? relations afdnniinaon as legitimate nay be regard
ed as 0 irthniay
Modes ot operaflon of ideology which is based on certain grounds, expressed in certain
symbolic forums and
which may. in given cIrcumstances . bc more or less effecti ve. Webcr dis
ne h tmguished three types o 1 grounds on which claims
nm a iraIties
7
ol to eiriin acy may
iera iode symboli tons!; Univ fl based: rational grounds (appealing to the legality of enacte d rules). tradi
donal grounds (appealing to the sanctit y of iinniez tlorial traditions) and
I. u asLion RA tiona lilac i Ii charismatic grounds (appealing to the exceptional
charac ter olan individual
U Lye ra izanO person who e,srcises authoric). Claims based on such
Narrarlvizat1on grounds may be
expressed in symbolic forms by means of certain typical straregtes of Syin
Ii bolic construction. One typical strarcQy is what we could
call ratjonah2ain.
E uphemnizanun whereby the producer of a symbolic form constructs
a chain of reasliling
hope cg. s riccdochc, which seeks to defend or justify a set oi social relations
or rnsritucions, and
me tony Tb ). nietapho r) thereby to persuade an audience that it is worthy ofsuppor
t Another typic-al
taiida,dizanoi) strategy is znnwnalizat,vn. By mrzns ol this strateg y. mnsnrL lrioiiai artangc
iiibohz.izitmn of uiiity men which serve die interests of sortie individ uals arc represented as
ft a Lrn
serving the interests of all, and these arrang ements
Lfl 0 [)iffereflnati(}n are regarded as being
E pu rga rio
open in principle to anyone who has the ability
I rime a them and the inclination to
succeed within them. Claims to legitimacy may also
N a nit a be expressed by ttiearms
24 titq of the strategy of nana,wIzauo,,: claims are
F(i-rl)aliZatlc)fl embedded in stories which
recount the past and treat the present as part of
I a I Ian on as vz an o: a timeles and cherished
s
tradition. Indeed traditions are on1ennle, nrtnwJ in order
to creates S ease
 62 The (The repf Ideology 1 he 1
Coricc
; t !ideilogy 3
]clon I i tO comm umcy and a history which transcends the land when you want w conquer it. or annex c, or at cast conqnc r pau
icr, di erence and d insion .
Stones are told, both by e dot, r cover even niLe inchW T here is all opelm ess. at I in dc dermin
IaI cm nicler and by individuals in the course of their everyday lives, vagueness, in many of the words we use, so that cnpheniiza don may
take
whit h serve rojusniy the exercise olpower by those who possess it and which place through a slight and even imperceptible smiting ofsensc.
so the fact that [nfl do not. Spcrcbes and d u Ideology qua dissi,nnlatio,, ma-v be expressed through anothe %nr;, r te2. tsr
ne i aa it. in tcn nos els and filnis arc constructed as narratives which cluster of srratcgies, which we uia subsume under the general l;Abel
-
cr
it a ii is and unfold the consequences of aon. ii ways that croj. By rro I mean the flgurat ive use of langua ge ni, Iore generails.
Ia tsra hI -b and cusuin relations of power. In the mundane stories andjokes symbolic forms. The study of [rope is generally confined no the domai
n of
wh cli LI] in tic of our everyday liws we are continuously engaged in literature, but the figurative use of langua ge us niuci, inure widesp read than
1 art-. that r it -sild appears anti in rnnforcing. through this disc pi specialization would sugges t. Amon g rir Ifitisi C OPt! tat.
Ia u ter L Ji pr li rs at a tic thers expense, the apparent order of things. By Forms of trope are svuiccdochc. heron viny and metaph or. all of which ii a:.
and ct:eait1 s Islt to, reading . w atciiing the 5 Dries told by be used to dissintulace relations of dt,nn ation, Syn ecdoc he involv
ot hr s, we nay
es i
he drawn ow a symbo lic proces s which may serve, in Some semantic conflation of part and whole: one uses a term standing fr
cur ii istalices, to irate and sustain relations
part of
of domination, something in order to refer to tile whole, or uses a rerimi candi i ig for chic
pcrand of idcolozy is dzssu,; uiauo,,. Relations of do,n,na whoe iii otder to rer to part his techniq ue may
-
1 IsslIn nIne s a
iarna hi- csta hi shcd tid sustained b being concealed, denied or ob relations by confus ing or inverri ng the relatio ns betwee n collect ivitics and
be cpi reii ted a s av which deflects anetinon from Or their parts, between particular groups and broader social and politica
osses over existir: reb tions or processes. Ideology qua dissimulation may terms
in the way, for example that generic terms like the British, the Anieri
be pressed in S ynibolic jrnis by means of a variety of different strategies. cans and the Russians are used to refer to particu lar goverminnen t5 or groups
nra crin L[OII1AdiV nd to rekr to one wirhih-a a nationstate. Metonymy involv es the use of a rerni standin g ior aim
1 ax cr iidav idna is usrd to rctr to another, and thereby tue positive Or
oh attribute, adjunct or related characteristic olsomerhing to refer to he-
thing
Vt era ot the rerun a it trailstenc d to the other object or inch itself, although here is no necessary connection ben-ee n id
-
tie terni a ha
vi dii .1. 1 ha si as the strategy of syn tbobc construction employed by Louis to which one ni.> be referring. Through the use mfletonytny, of the referen t
Bonaparte, t ho, a Manic va acutely observed, managed to re-activate a rradi may be implied without being explicitly stated, or may be positiv
ely or
(0t cc cr Ri r the ii I na hero by presen ti ig in 1
mid as the negatively valued b association with something else; this is common prac
Cu tii 5 1 nI lit: gr Car Napi Icon, was this time honour ed disguis e tire, for instance, in advertising, where meaning is often rnc.hil zed In cii bce
it I wed iangutc wI id, veiled the new scene of world and surreptitious wan, without making explicit the connections beneriu
hi story.
ci ici die peasantry towards the past ral her than the the objects referre d to implie
future and preven ted or d in the ad. Metap hor involv es the applica
the, on Ma ncs account, [torn grasping dick reai condi dons of life. Anothe tion of a term or phrase to an object or action to which it is not literall
r y
1 a Ri u-rn die d1ssa ii ,ulanoi of si- relations is cphcrnin apphcable. Metaphorical expres sions sen up a tension withi,, a senten ce by
tic: ris I sot I tunis or social relatio ns are described or redescribed in combining terms drawn from differe nt seman tic fiIds a tensiou, which. if
ii cvhlc rut .apol ive vai uation There are nny wellknown successful, generates a new and enduring sense. Metap hor may dissim
-
ulane
C52In pIes oi this process: the violent suppre social relations by representing them. or the individ
ssion ofprotest is described as the uals and groups
cs r- icR in orde r: a prison at concen tration camp is describ ed as a re embedded in them, as endowed with characteristics which they nor liter
do
IC
- n SUED riosial zed lulequa n nes based on ethnic disioui s ally possess, thereby accentuating certain Features am the expense o 1 oml,L-r,
:;ccr abcd a scp ar:Icc deveio pnienr : foreign laurers depriv ed and chargin g them with a positiv e or negativ e
of sense, Thus the Grimier Until:
arc described aS guest worker s, But the proces s of Prime Minist er Marga ret Thatch er was often describ ed as the Lady.
cuphi ,nizara >n ni ten mu, e subd e than these wellknown examp Iron a
les would metaphouwhich endowed her with a superhuman determination arid
5uggC{. Thu n I QK2 we -&ere told by Meiiachein Begin
firni
that the movement ness of will. Or consider this commexir by Margaret Thatcher herseif made
- .u J urn ps aid tund reds of ranks Into L banon was not an an inrcrvies with the Press Association in I 988 and reported in die British
tO- asia I U-ci a use at cord ag to cgins definition of the tern, you invade a daily the Guardian: reflecting on her flrst eight years in oflice and on her
 T,c GotiLep( Lf1deviory i/ic Gnccp cJIdcoIry (3
the changing status of Britain among the Western industrial rides differences and div kic, is. the syritbolization of uii [V nay serve, in
he observes liar Tlrey used, when I first came in, to talk about us H particular circumstances, to estakil isb alit! sustain relanons of don
ii I L& Jiririsli disease. Now they talk a bon t us and say Look Britain A fourth mode through which ideology may operate is Jnimcrita iorI -
thu cure. The metaphor of disease and cure, combined with the Relations of domination may be maintained, not by unifying individuals iii a
LiIIlac Of to and them, gives this comment a vivid
and evocative collectIvity, but by fragmenting those individuals and groups that might hc
I-; i roud.s the process of social and economic developoico t in the capable of mounting an eflixcive cliallengc to dominant groups, or by
I .L,c V\ I Li hess and heal di, while neglecting or glossing over the actual orientating forces of potential opposinclil towards a target whit his projected
CL U L Li SLLL : c u ideri ying and aftecri ng tins proce. In calling attention
as evil, harmful or clircareni Hg. F fete a ryp ical strategy of symbolic con struc-
to
AL cThc v. RI U Is of crope I do not want to suggest, of course, that the don is dflrenhasion that is, emphasizing the diseii,crionis, difkrenccs and

if Vu USC it Lailguage 5 aways or even predominantly ideological. I wish
divisions between individua 5 and gi oups, the cliaract eristics which dir unire
tigtL ra nyc nse ollanguage is a fairly common feature of
them and prevent then from coiiseitueiiig an cflecnve challenge to existing
-n d.i disc unu. that it is an effective way of mobilizing meaning in the relations or an effective participant in the exercise of power. Another perti
U I hisror K Vi arid, and nba z, in ecruin contexts, the meaning mobilized
nent strategy may be described as the flpurgdti.ln 4 she flier. [his n valves the
Ic cii di J ed s cit er and may serve to create, sustain and construction of an eneni v. ei ti Icr with iii or wu tlrour, wh ic ii is portrayed as
r,i&hLc icrari;i, of doriii,iac,a,i evil, harmfu or threatening arid Inch ndi vci Ga Is a it called ii pori cal cc
of deology is infiasion, lively to resist or expurgate. This strategy often overlaps with strategies
Relations of domination
Lu rahiic ni sustained by constructing, at orientated towards unification, since rite enemy is trcaned Is a challenge
CLI -
the symbolic level, a
ii hi aces i id ivid Gals in a collective idend threat, in the face of which individuals ni ust uii cc. The portrayal F Icws aid
ii r a . I rrespec
the A icr; Rn arid di isioiis that may separate them. A typical coTumunists in the Nazi Uceratu tC nt the 9Os arid ojos. or chic ella sc tsr
Ii ii s ii iode is rxp ressed ri sy rnbolic forms is the izadon of politicaL dissidents n theScahiiiist era ss Ctierntcs of the pe& plc. arc
f LJ.J n S itibol Ic for3Lb arc adap wd to a standard frame
exemplary instances of the expu rearion of the other. bti t thr.c stratcg IS
. c. h:.pr rc d a; bc shared and acceptable basis of symbolic commonplace than such examples might suggest. Consmder in ed tcmaI
riccr rarc puxued. 13r c nipie, by stare authotities seek remark in the massci rcuia nonnewspaper the cun: c nun nii enor.
ri.nh: Ilgu age ii the context -DI diverse and hnsticaliy
ssible strike
by the driven union ASI&F In sum ill CF I 82. the
train
I r., rm p 1 i cs a hlij, ment ofa nanonai iarua nv save to reminds its readers that ASLEF may smash [heir O I: in tiusmr.- hoc II ic r
. 1 zjc [it among grau and a lidmate Fdaicliv among
LU.
break us, since, as the battle tsr rIle Faik]aT,dS denlon%nratcl Sn c:carh.
Ii.JCLS all, 1 tic ,u ndaries of a nationstare. Another
NOBODY can break this nation. This comment cllIplii S a COiiileX
ii Lol lisrrtl don by inear of which unifidon can be
strategy in which ASLEF is concrnucrrd as an orhet who is challcr:ging [lie
-i :: 1 : - cm .ide scribe as the syrnbjiizazion olmiity. This regy
..

nation as a whole, and this opposition is supenniposed on rue nliicting

o
it rurtiomi or svnibols of unity, of &illecnve identity and
forces in the Faiklands War, so that ASLEF identified sith
is alien power
an
.;u I aim ire di huscd thraugnout a group or plurality ofgroupL which is threatening a people who must nm ic ii the face of adversi and cv
c:; c ru, ii, .n ruedo u o svn1,Is ut national unin. such as flags,
whose will to resist evil is elnpliaricaJi indomitable.
:cLLi bier, i and ii scriprions of vatious nd are evident
A fifth flOd 10 epcrQndi of ideology is reifia,ron relations a 1 donlinarmoTi
.r: u rice symbolization otunin ma be iiireoven with the
may be established and sustained by rcpreseuiring a rraui.irnn, hisroricai rate
, art a v ,za nor:, as symbols of unity may be an integral part of a of affairs as if it were permanenr. iian,ral. outside of rime. Processes ire
In: I ,f x nc.
- - len recounts a shared history and projecm a collective

portrayed as things or as events of a quasinatural kind, in such a that

sav
-- . cm urn only iii the case of largescale sial organizadons their sociai and historical character eclipsed. Ideology qua reification
us rims
- a .L Ic H I rat 0 astarr, bu r also in the case ofsmaller organizations
involves the elimination ohfuscanon oftlie social and hirorical character
or
- L Sc. U] r, v. Ii ci arc held together, in part, by an ongoing press of
of socialItistorical phenomena or, to borrow .i suggestive phrase troll)

I N nit ia
ro,i hick, a collective identity is caced and con Claude Lefort, it involves die rt-ntahl islimnerit of die din cusion of socien
l4 binding rerhcr indv,duals in a way which over
mcd
without history at the very heart of historical societv. TI) IS mode ray be
 -) Con -
i I ithr. Iuy
c (0 tin-pr cg I drowpy 6
es p1 eyed ii svinb bc triiis by means ot the strat
egy of naturalizaiwn A stressed, however, cousider4 [ions of dos kind
ot af fairs \vli ici is a socia and
-
are at ut-sr prci
l Ilistt3rk al creat ion may be treated as a indicat,ons of a terrain to he expored; they should I
n, u ra et a it as the ne Ira Li Ic ourcor ic of natural be rega rded as rung!,
characteristics. n the guidelines which may facilitate inquiry of a note
ixa 1np c, ihar he s cia 1 ly instituted divis enpi neal or ii istorica
ion of labo ur betw een inc n ku, I For particular strategies of symbolic constrticf
ci tue [ L hi po u-a y ed as the product lon. or parti cilia r id;.
i
of the phys iolog wal charac ter of syiuboiic 1orm, are nor ideological as such: whet
hr at s at, I dit ret cxi en E,er. ccii
thc exn. A siiii liar strat her he inearlang
egy is what nay be generated by symbolic strategies, or conveyed by
set, icc! rric,nuhzaswnri,cia] historical phenome are deprived symbolic foiiiis. serves to
na of their establish and sustain relations of domination is
Liar ii at by tic big portrayed pcrnianeiir, unch a quesnon that car br
anging and ever answered ony by examining the spec ific cont exts
ret ci Cu loins. tradi nc,lls and ixist itu dons with in whirl synibo ic
whic h see,, to [retell forms are produced and received, oniy
mi cfln itch rut rhc past. so that any trace of their origi n is lost and
by
sans by which ci icy are transmitted from prod
exam iadn the speciKc nec Inn -
any ques ucem to recca vers. and at;
rhc r is an iiiaginablc, acqui a e a rigidity which cannot
di to prcd I {ie hec ortic en bedd be easily examining the sense which these symbolic form
ed in socia l life s have for the subjects who
and their appa rentl y ahis produce and receive then,. Strategies of symbolic
barac ret I rc-affirniiccl by sym construction are the vauLt
bolic form s whic h. in their with which symbolic forms capable of creating
i a a: tell sheer ripen don, etern and susrairiling relations ui
alize the cont ingent. domination can be produced; they are symbolic
ii sg .Ji; rel icacion
iiiav also be c-sprcssed by devices as it were, which
ircan , 01 vaviOss grain- facilitate the mobilization of tneaning. but whet
na tica arid sy irac tic devnes. such as nomnaIizanon her the wnsbolic Icirins
and passi tizatzon thereby produced snve to sustain relations of dom
inatior. or to uhcrt
N ii ii alL; Qua oc Un licil Sc tene ts parts of
W Jr sente ntes, descriptions of them, to bolster up powerful individua ls and
nd ho pame pal Is voiced an them, are ruined grou ps ot to unde rmin e then ,
into noun s, as when is a flatter that can be resolved only by stud ying
say the banning oh npo its instead ofrhc Prune ho chose svraL l;c formil s
Minister has decid ed to operate n particular socialhistorical circumsta
baa In LpOI I assi. zatlon occurs when verbs are rendered
Is.
nces , hc,w they .Ltc used 1 nu
in the pass ive understood by the subjects who produce and recei ve
fbi ii. icns c say rho ,uspc
being investigated i,isread of po then i in the socially
is
cc
11 structured contexts of everyday life Pit a later
nIb ccc ri in csnganhig rne suspect. Nocuinali stgc I shall eiaborat
zation and passivizadoii methodological franiew ,rk within which this kind
lot us ic I tentlol if di he., ret or read er on ccl [air) of study can be carried
them es at die expense out.
1-.. 1 dde c ac lots and ageiicy and they tend to repre sent processes
as ifllgs 01 events A hick rake place iii thu absence of subj ect who produces
riicnc. I be ak rend t elide references to specific
spatial and temporal Reply to Some Possible Objections
eo, rei by ciiininianng verbal constructions or conv
erting rheni into the
COnflli a; Otis rea sc, I hesc and &,rlicr
gram natical or syiltacuc devices may, in In the previous section I proposed a conception ofideoiog, hich
particular rcu us rances. sene to esrabli 511 and susta relat focuses
in ions of doanina the ways in whic h mean ing, as cons truct ed and conv eyed by syttibolic Ibrn,s
non b re {yuIg social hisroncal phenomena. Represen of various kinds, serves to establish and sustain relat
ring processes as ions of don,inarioa Tb;s
dii ws, tie etine ,icrcrs arid agency cons
d tnt! rig nine as an eternal extension is a concepnofl which owes som echi g to what I calle d Marx
he iSt Ut ft use: these ate so many ways of reestablishi the s Latent tiotion
ng dimension ofideolngy, but which diverges from Manc s acco unt in seve ral fundamental
at iOC1 witbocic hisroay at die hear t histo
of rical socie ty. respect& It is a conception wbich prescrves the critic
al. negative sense
by aderi L1ty1n these various mod ofr es oper ation of ideo logy and som associated with the concept o
e of 1 ideology since Napo leon . but whic h d,vo rces
al tracegies at rnholic coaistrudf loai with whic h they may this sense from the supposition of error and illusion, Iris conc
be asso a eptio n whic h
ciai cd rd through wi-udi they lay be cprcssed have . I calle atten directs our atten tion towa
d tion to rds the ways in whic h certa in strat egies of
10 i-it the sv a s ii cli wr can begi ii to think about the inter
play of symbolic construction may Facilitate the reprodaction of relations olpo
al ti power in social
wer.
ii Fe, I have cal led attend on to sonic of the but which demands a systematic and detailed inquiry into the actua
sararegles and dcvi ccs l LISU, of
h rue f w hich meaning can be constructed and
0
vu symbolic Forms in specific contexts and the ways iii which they are under
3 he cc at odd, and Suite of the ways ii which the meaning stood by tIn individuals who produce and receive then,, I shall pursue this
cii s in carved can serve c rablish and sustain relations of power. As I have
ni inquiry further in due course- For the time being. I shall conclude this pre-
 ,8F tr ca,j 4 ]dCOi{Lt
jr Con j 4 idetks- (9
iinunary discusson of the concept of ideology by considering some
possible and routine. Surely the study ofideology should be concerned with the Ia rrer
nbecnons which rnigltr be levelled against the reformulation proposed here. phenomena as well as with tire mobilization of n caning in sy ii bolic Its tins.
()b:Lan, hu havv icused the study ofidcoloy on the ways in which
.
is no doubt tue that relations of dotimina don arc SD stained iii ii marn jnlict
n. Hg en r : cirabitsi, and sustain relations of domination. but surely, ent ways and by virtue ofmanv different actors. In sonic cii cunistances,

lie nia Liect. iie study of dcology should also be concerned with apathy and indif&rcnce ofsubordinatc individuals and groups, or eel] rhc:r
h:- c C rt1 those lcrn arid tdeas, hich cli alienge. cotitest willingness or their Will tO submit ti servitude, nay be al. ii i her
and sin pi tile ,rams quo [he study of ideology shou Id indeed be con circumstances, relations of domination may be sustained by the fact that
cc med with corn estatoty sy nibolic forms,
since these nay help to highlight practices have been followed for so long and with such regularity that they
-as rebtfl high gh is -a oppressive regime those symbolic fbrms which

have acquired the character cihabits or routines which are neither discussed
scm 5 rabi h an..i sustain relations of darni
iano,i But conrestatury wit nor quewoned; relations of domiintion may be reproduced, not kcanse
-iu arc not ideological. accor&rg to die conception which I have
4 meaning is mobilized in support of them, but simply because this s
top. I crc. ii } S curler pius reta: ris the asyni metrical aspect which was things have always been done, I do not wish to deny the importance at these
i:ar ,-n-r ts f M.ir s ssork, dtoj- s not indiffcenr, as it we,
to considerations. I do nor v.ish to claim, and it would be quite misleading to
oat ut-c., I the pLWCr relat ms which syiribolic forms express and support. suggest, that social relations are sustained, that the social order is reproduced,
in bole tori is re deologic-al only in so hr as they serve to establish by virtue of the mobilization ofmeaning in symbolic forms alone, What I do
and
sustain vsternancally asyni nemcal relations of power; and it is this activity want to argue is that the mobilization of meaning in support of relations of
in vh c rrvice c I dominant rid ividuals and groups which both delimits the domination is a social phettomnenon worthy of systematic investigacion. char
Ut Ic! ,r I dC.3liv, giving it specicin and setting it off from the it comprises sante oIthe ways in which these relanons are sustained, and rha
cit anon ss ssibolic forum in general. and endows the
proposed concep the investigation of these ways is tue specitic province of dir study of mdco
fl c!rh a ictanvc serme. Idcology. according to this concep [ogy The Fact that relations of domination may be sustained in other
,n, is by stature hegenioni t, n the sd se that it necessarily serves to establish does nor imply that these other ways should also be regarded as ftritis of
.
and sustain relations of domination and thereby to reproduce a social order ideology. Indeed, in some circumstances, relations of domination may be
which favours dominant i idividuals a id groups- Ideological forms can sustained by the exercise of brute force, by beating, killing and forceftilly
of
course bc challteitd, contested arid drirupted. and they frequently repressing insurrettiomi or protest. and it would hardly be sensible
are so
igcJ. bo CpiICt tl In articiii arc and toiicerteA atracks, and mph-. illuminanng to suggest that this way of sustaining relations otdominatiin is
id Lhc ciii daric s mhol Ic exchanges of evcndav life, These challeng yet another form of ideology. If the concept of idcoiovv is to be useful. its
di rur cc,: nuns na be dncribed a cnhest.story i..iboiuj,rrns or, sphere of application must be Limited. I have proposed a limitaron vh,ct:
LW cificai I. as mncipn;,Jorrns
IOtC iji/ie critique of ideolosy. The very existence focuses our attention on the ways in which the meaning mobilized in
or ideology titay all forth its obverse: rather than passively accepting ideo symbolic farms serves to establish and sustain relations of domination. It
I ogica] lorros and the s-clad otis of domination which they serve to sustain. focuses our attention on an inrersubjeccive space in which meaning inter
individuals may attack or denounce these forms and relations, may parody sects with power in certain ways. Tills proposed hniitarion makes no preceri
or
i:uzL ihcnn iiaswck to defuse whacevcr force ideoiogica expressions sion ro encompass all of the ways in which meaning intersects with power.
may
have parni ii rc urn st a nec!. hi so doirm these individuals are engaging. floral! of the ways in which relations of domination may be susrained. But it
- cjr-xii tmiatlar a new tdeoiy (although in other respects, they defines a field of inquiry which bears some resemblance ro the domain
may be doing tIns as well), but nthet in an itcipicnt version ofa
nique which may be carried out in a more systematic way within the
form ofcri
frame
I
$1
staked ow by earlier ronceptinin of ideology and which is, without further
extension, quite large enough.
work u a comprehensive imiterpretanve methodology. I Objection): In speaking of the ways in which meaning senes to sustain
In :s
)hi xrian 2. You
. in
have
c h mean,
characterized
n g serves mc
the study
establish
of ideology
and su stain
as the study
relations
oi
of
I relations of domination, are you not implicitly adopting a functionalist
standpoint and tying the study of ideology to a model olexplamlation which
aflon. but relations oF domination may be sustained in other ways, has long since been discredited? In studying ideology we arc indeed con
for
apathy and indifference, or b.c the sheer repetitiveness of habit cerned, in a general sense, with the totes rhar symbolic forms play itt socia
 zo The :onccpr ojLkoIoy The Concept o/1dtvloy 7
H:

In
ft I;ich hey an used and uriden t by nidisid nais and the social relanonc ,n which these individuals ate enmeshed. But iron ins
ihc tou&-uue,l& es ofths usage and undersnding for t ie
1 reprod uction does nor follow that symbolic fonns do not have decerminaic Ilicatilligs to,
ta OtLTht. BUt We ROt adopti ng a functio nalist speciFic individuals or that these individuals are hot enmeshed ii, dere,.
arL standp oint and we
are ii:,r rryin to explain ideology in functionalist terms. To minate social relations. The fact that it is
explain ideology difficu lt to determ ine these pheno
in Lu rcciorilsr terns we would have to procee d follows: we would mena does not imply that diese phenomena are indeter
as have minate . We call seek
ha, the soci aHrdcr is a svsreni which has certain needs. rnch to illuminate relarioiis of domination by emplo
ying vatious
as a metho ds c
hi ch h ye to hr met ii order to mainta in a stable equilib rium; socialhistorical analysis, for example by analYsing the distribution o 1 arid
U a r a 4siirne char the end state the system access to scarce tesources or institutional positions in metat,on to con
of e.g. mai ntaing a
stahic equilibrium s a given; and we would have to argue that siderations such as class background, gender or ethnic origin. We can seek to

ideological
symbolic ibm is car be explained by showing chat they fulfil elucidate the meanin g that symbolic forms
some of these nay have for individ uals by
Iced j icr wc we ss-oui A seek to expiain ideoog icai examining the characteristics of these forms and, where possible. relatin
symiic forms g
its a rIley tis certain indispensable needs. From a functio these charactenstics to the accounts oftred by the individuals who produce
nalist
JiJ.-gv would be the eAplarnindl1m (what is to be explain ed) and receive rhens in the course of their eveday Lives. We can ct to shos
and
pr given needs oi the system would how cl,e meaning conveyed by symbolic forms serves, in parncular cirnini
be the planans (that in terms of
which it can be explaiticci). This is not the sraudp oin r which I am stances, to establish and sustain relations of domination by developing all
adopti ng. I
am nt ryilg to explain ideology in terms of some piegiven interpretation which explicates the role that these symbolic &irnis play in
and un
uet cJ rccd of a system (whatever that may be), but rather I am trying and the consequences that they have lor. the lives oi the individuals among
-
0 txli arrelinon or the nature and conseq whom they circulate. But an interpretation is riot a proof Indeed it is nor if
uences of the ways in which
-.yii)RIl( tbrins are used and understood in particular the critic is looking for prool. for incontestable denjonstranon, then he or
circumstances. V/hat
vie a) coajec ted wi rh in a sense, are the social effects of the usage she will be disappointed. But the disappointment sterns more horn the
and
taiide,statidiri olsyinbolic forms; arid what we are concer ned to explain, critics expectations than from the analysts results. In analysing ideology, iii
in
Lisagt and unJerstanding tsFsynbolic forms conthbures
over seeking to gnisp the complex interplay of meaning and power, we are nor
the reproducnon a 1 relations of power and domination. But the dealing with a subject matter that admits of incontestable demonstration
Lnguigc ol au.u and cci, of expianand inn am! ephsnans, is inadequate (whatever that may be). We are in the realm of shifting sense and relative
for
the nicrbodoh>gical tasks char confro nt us, For we are dealing with inequalities, of ambiguity and word-play, of different degrees of opportunity
meanin g
and understanding as much as with cause and we are seeking and accessibility, of deception and selfdeception, of the concealment of
effect, to inter
:iucl, a to caplaul To pursue the study of ideology, in die sense social relations and of the concealment of die vet process of cc,nceahne,uc.
nopnsrd her:: we require a method ologica l framew ork which has left the To approach this realm in die exctarion that one could provide incontes
id jRui It, kti) ialis ni behind, and which is tailored
to the specific table analyses is like using a nncrcope to interpret a poem.
eli-am acrtrrincs of a mc:aningfu I object domain . Objrczion 5: But if the study ofideology is a matter ofinrerpretarion, then
er#zint 4 Its all very well in princip
7
Ob le to define ideology in the characterization of particular symbolic forms as ideological seems little
terms oldie
\vays iii whit Ii meaning serves to establish and sustain relations more than arbirrary. Perhaps Maimiwini was right, after all, to contend that
of domina
o can) ou n ericH in practice whether parncu]ar sbolic forms the only way to avoid arbitrariness and onesidedness in the analysis ol ideo
to Sustain or disrupt, to establish logy is to generalize the approach and to subject the analysts own position to
or undennine. relations of
domination, i-low do you know what these symbolic forms mean ideological analysis. Although interpretations are contestable, it does not
to specific
imlivijuali, whether these individuals are in positions ofdoininatjon follow that they are arbitrary. There may be good reasons for offering a
or sub
ordinarion, and what if any) relarioui there is betwee n the meanin particular interpretation and adhering to it, reasons whicli may be quite
g ofthese
nibJ IC to and rue sonal positions of these individuals? Jr is difticu convincing in the circumstances even if they are nor aitc.getbet conclusIve.
lt to
p rend u a gene r3 1 response to qiesno ns such as these. There are no simple An interpretation may be plausible, and considerably more plausible than
rules :j iiunib which sH determ ine, when applied to particu lar ocher interpretations, without purporting to exclude al doubt, there i a
cases, the
aneanuig that symbolic fi,rnas have for specific individuals or the great deal of room on the spectrum between incontestable demonstration
nature of
 -. H opt I Ide
Flit (Zrsapt f (deck,y 3
a; id ar rai-y cIioicc nid die interpretation forniulad on proposed here, calls our attention
of ideolo gy, like all forms of to the wa s i H v1 eli warn rg
erpretation. lies in the region in berweco, The interpretation of ideolo is mobilized iii the service of dominant individuals
gy and groups, di, r s, rue
c spctiJ prh1ris. i so far a jim concer with the inrerpr ways in which the meaning consrrucred and conveyed
ned etadon by syiliboliL lottie,
-
;rc neil, itch arc afreadv undcnrt in onc sensc by serves, in particular circumstances, to establish and
the inth sustain swucrircd oc il
duaI. 5k. isO pioduce and receive then 1 irid which are linked iii relations from which some individuals and groups benetir
compl ex ways more tha,i orheis,
ci. die usre roas and opportunities of these tndividtials. We and which some individuals and groups have an interes
can deal t Lu preserving while
ci tbec prcbici,is only by attending carefully to the charac ter others may seek to contest. The study of ideology. unders
of his tirid ndi sis tood In this sense.
and by exarnif ung the ways in which panicu br thus plunges tile analyst into reallil
a of nicanir
inlerpicianons may he defend ig and power. of
ed and criticiz ed, challen ged and sustain ed. pretarion and countcrintcrpreration. where
Maunhrirns proposal, however well--i the object ol analys is is
nteziri oned, is of no help in this task, weapon employed in a battle carried out on the terrain
es h ani vsis of ideology ofsyni hols and sign;.
with the study of the social condi in subsequent chapters I shaH pick up and develo p some
id s ice st cultin ares in aspecis of tins
j the parado xical sition of alternative approach to the study olideologv. I shall shost
s-king o ove coniC the upisteil iological problems of radical how rids appnncli
hisroricism by can be integrated into a broader methodological frameW
luiJeg ng a soc id group whose ork ftr the alial}sis
conditioned thought is relatively ofcontexnialized symbolic forms Before proceeding
to these broader and
it hes to d stance uu rselv once and for all from more consrrnctive concerns, however, I want to consid
Lin:-c-riis approach c, rhc analysis of er sonic of the most
ideology and its paradosicai con recenr contributions to tile theory and anaJvs is of ideo lo. For Ma,inheinia
SCUCH. s. cai seek o defend and criticize inrerpreraons. to render work was by no means the last word on these matter
in rcrpretation plausible and convincing and to try to show that others s. In recent years chert
has been an upsurge of interest iii problems assocL
dot:t .ictuiiibirw to
ated wit), the analysis of
the uieip f and cons ed deman d chat ideology and a veritable explosion of writings
on this therx,e . I want to
:1 dcoingv oust icsell& a Lalyse d Ldeolo gicallv . This is not to examine a selection olrhese wriri.igs in the following
chat the Iliterpretanon of ideology stands above au suspicion, that chapte r. in cluing so I
the shall shift my focus somewhat I shall be less concerned
inrm-prcrer usurps a privilege which is denied with the differin g
to all others. On the contrar y, ways in which contemporary authors employ rue
concept of ideolo gy, die
sr ii ans in terprera non is open to suspicion, and is precise ly different shades of meaning which they gic to tins
a sc u di chat. iioffcrin a ci interpretation, we n,ust also
it
term, and I shall seek
-
offer reasons instead to highlight the role which this concept pla within
and grounds, evide, ice and arguments. which, in our view, reader their differing
the inter theoretical accounts ofthe nature and development
pretaflozi plausible; and whether the interpretation is plausible, of modern societies.
whether the
rLsn, .nd ttunds are convincing, snot a natter for the interpr
eter alone
hi this chapter I have retraced the history of the concept
of ideology with a
zc% Ld am: th hc ansi of deiti ting sortie of die princip al concep tions
at Jr:oi iv lsrch hive enierge in the
d course of this history and have con
wi,uted to the richness and the ambiguity of the term, and with the
aim of
prcparmg the groundwork for the formulation ofan alterna tive concep tion.
iiaracterizcd this airernjtive conception as a critical concep tion, for it
aLccn,pr n-i eli:ntiiate the negative sense which the term ideolog
y
hai a<qu:icd ii the course of its history hat rather retains this sense
and
cotiscrun it a particu
in lar way Hence ideolog y remain s a critical concep t, a
hut tno inch calls oul a[tcnno n to a range of soda phenom ena that can
be and that otcen are ir the course of everyd ay life subjec ted
-
to CflUC ISm
and ein[:roiled in ronfl,tt. The concept of ideology, according
to the
 bitt logy In i tcdrrn
set of assumptions comprises a range of ideas which stem lroimi die work
Marx and Weber, among others. Together these ideas constitute a gcneiai
theoretical account of the cultural transformations associated with the rise of
Ideology in Modern Societies modern industrial societies. I shall call this account the gnnd narrativr of
cultural tranformanon. This narrative provides rhe framework within which
much recent reflection on the nature and role of :drol>gv in muderii
Crn:cal .4nalysis o/Some Theoretical Accounts societies has taken place. The rise and fall of ideologies are phases of arc
historical drama which has been played onron the symbolic stage ofinodemi
societies, from their emergence in cighreentli-cenmn Furor to the present
day. Within the context of the grand narrative. ideology is understood as
particular kind of belief system characteristic of the modern age. I shall
distinguish the grand narrative of cultural transformation from a second set
In iccenr decades, problems assoc,ared with the analysis of ideology of assumptions which has underpinned some recent work on the nature arid
mndrn societic, have been in
tentral to social and political theory and debate. role of ideology especially work of a more explicitly Martisr persuasion

Man authors, nt widely differiig theocencal persuasion, have sought to 1 is second set of assumptions similarly constitutes a general theoretical
TI
concept ut 1lcy. th charactenstics ofideological forms account which has been both pervasive and deeply influennal in social and
d
II l.)c a! and pIidcaI lift.
They have, in differing ways, sought to political thought I shall describe this account as the ge?merai rhcoiy OsUlIe
h;coIinictiie concept of ideolo into broader sets of assumptions orgsinized and ideologically secured social reproduction. Within the framework ii
o:ice cuing the law re and development of niodern indutda( &is general theory, ideology is conceptualized as a cluster of values and
detes. In
chapter waiir to examine sonic of these contemporary writings beliefs which are produced and diffused by agencies of tIm stare, and which
on the
theory and anal) ss of ideology. My aim wil] be not so much serve to reproduce the social order by securing the adherence ofindividual
to trace the
t-onnnwaig vicis,sirudes of a concept but rather to highlight
some of the toir.
broader sets of assumptions on the basis of which the analysis -
As I shall try to show, there are serious difficulties with both of the
of ideology is
pur:.ucd today lence I shall be concerned with broad theoretical theoretical accounts which have guided much recenr work or tue analysis ni
frame
w.!rk wir}. eiitral and oftctj implicit visions concerning
the nature and ideology in modern societies. Both accounts rest on assumptions which arc
lc .ri.,p3 lent odcrr soci rncc I shall to show
t that, to n.e re,,r, questionable or misleading in fundamental ways. While many of the
<tjleorerica ainewirks or visions are a legacy ofninereenrh criticisms that I shall make of these accounts are concerned with thu
and early
tu acial thought. Here, contexts of assumptions specific to each, I shall argue that there is one major
-
a) in many social
uun the tctnms frefrence oCcurrent debar were set a century shorrconming which they share in common: both accounts fail to deal
ago. To a
signticant extent, writers such as Marx and Weber defined the adequately with the nature and centrality cf mass communication in
problems
that are still being debated; they put fonvard the concepts and theories modern societies. I shall argue that the nwdiazaUon ofmodem oihure tlrnr is,
that -.
to guide research and discussion While this in itself is riot the ways in which symbolic forms in modern societies have become
ne esarily harmful indeed, the transmission ofa corpus of increasingly mediated by the mechanisms and institutions of mass
--
concepts and
p1 co IS part
.
what defines an intellectual tradition or discipline communication is a central feature of modern sn,iai ik and I shall

cr1 iees :tiur sk whether, in specific casts, the sets of maintan that a sarisficrory analysis of ideology in modern societies must
assumptions
nand,xi ;Jovn troth he past are adequate ior analysing the social therefore be based, at east in part, on an understanding of the nature and
forms and
F wh confront u-c roda. I shall arpe dat the ptindpal developnienr of niass commumcadon.
luc Ii have guided many recent analyses of ideology in modern ft is one of the ments of the writings of the crirical theoncms associated
soc.e tics are inadequate in this regard. with the Frankfurt institute for Social Research from I-lorkheimer and
hi order to develop this argo merit, I shall

begin by reconscructin g two Adorno to Habermnas that they have sought to take account of the
different sets of assumptions and examining the limitations of each. centrality of mass communication in modern societies. In their critical
The first
 Idtokgy in S>!. cc 7
ngr rl,c- I dir ad rure! ndusrn. Horkhmer and Adoo I The rise of industrial capitalism in Europe and elsewbcrr a ace:>:!:
rirs s rccnaric accounts of the nmdiaxarion of modern panied by the decline ofreligious and magical beliefs aIII pracnccs.
run attempt d aw our the iniplicanons of this press for the were prevalent in preindustrial societies. The development f industrmai
.oeaa)g- U; 1] odd ii OCICtlfl. Similarly abern especially in
-
capitalism at the level of economic activity was accompanied, in the
pub] it pherc. examines the ways in which lidcal sphere of culture, by the secularization of beliefs and pracnccs and b thr
cc soc;c-m es 2w; been profoundly transformed by the progressive rarlona Iron of social life.
Lit- OpT; nit oI Clit ;cdta n u stri In the fluial vo secrior of this chapter 2 The decline ofrcbgion and niagic prepare<l the ground for rice ciic-rgencc
mine the on ni ho ions of Horkhei flier, Adorno and Habernias. I of secular belief systems or ideologies, which serve to mobilize politic-al
Ii. I CO show that tiiri w rk, while patti-breaking and provocative in action without reference to otherworldly values or beiiws. The religious
ITS&C Cs> LiOfl not pi ovide a satisfactoty hasb kbr
rethinking the and mythical consciousness of preindustrial society was replaced by a
concept and analysis of ideology in the era of mass comniunication. practical consciousness rooted in social collectivities and animated by
secular systems of belief
3 These developments gave rise to the age ofideologies which culminated
Ideology and the Modern Era in the radical revolutionary movements of the late uinetecrith and early
twentieth centuries. These movements according to some theorists

by tee L iL!tZ UL
(I !i a set of assu m pctoiis concerning the cultural
writing in the I 950s and I 960s were the last manifestations of the age of

n- rn a,snatcd L chc rtc aimodern industrial societies. These ideologies. Today politics is increasingly a flutter oIpicceneal reform as;d
05 or:sti[tIrc a reral dcoredca] framcork, an overarching the pragmatic accommodation ofconfiicming interests, Social arid poiiucai
rca1 u rracsc. hh has shapcd many 1
a die problems and action is less and less animated by secular belief systems which call ior
debates in
pr ri ra andys; s. including sonic of the debates concerned wit!, radical social change. Hence we are witnessing. according to sonic
cc :3 ccsf The elements of proponents of this view, not only the end of the age ofideologies, bar the
,icoo r! meni ieties o&nal
jjrnL:Lflt !cm. ?rr,i: irJiforrnio can be disccrned
in the wdn of end olicieokigy as such.
Nir el -escn aunougi) die 1950s and Woos
ncr until that the
a cc tram Jenut-,nrnj 1 exam, r this theorencal Let me elaborate briefly on each of these points.
- ni narrative I
so restrict ni yscl - the work of any p4rnuular thinker. For this
vu is not so mOth .i dean fannulared rlieorencal I The idea that the rise of industrial capitalism was accompanied by the
it a
y argument which
tan he discerned in the wrinmigs of one or several authors as a story
which has decline of religious and magical beliefi and practices is an idea that was
hr gleaned from a variety of texts and which, when reconstructed in this shared by many nineteenth and early twentieth-century thinkers, including
wa >7, otters a vision of the rnaj<:r cultural transformations associated
with Marx and Weber. For Marx, the type of society brought about by the
ii: de velopnmes of modern societies, Within this narrative, ideologies have emergence of industrial capitalism is radically different from earlier
rotc to play, us secular belief systems which emerged in the wake of the precapitatist societies. Whereas precapitalist societies were basically con
religion and ilalc and which served ro niobihze political action in servative in their mode of production, modern capitalist society is constantly
s c>rid tripped of tradi C, want to reconstruct this narrative and to expanding. changing, transforming itsel( modern capitalist society also
urns of rs dramatic plot, not only because it oflrs a dissolves the tnditiom and cultural forms including the religIous

-
- 0 IS teco dcc ph Oluenrial n socIal and polincal theory, but traditions which were characteristic olpreapitalisr socienes. In the pmrvi

usc- rcSc ci :5 mccc, Jr of rIce cuhural transformations associated
chapter I highlighted this enipbasis which is particuiarly sthking In rice

I: dem cipm cci
- dcrs societies and in p-anilar of the nature Man[esio qrke Communist Party Ofl the progressive. dernystifSng character

.ico :ag n dine icties, which is, in iiiy view, misguided in of the modern era. The restless, ceaseless activity of the capitalist mode of
- I U rjaiiicm;ra rc, ci S
1 production strips social relations o that train of ancient arid venerable prej
rize the ke; eIriiien ct die grand narnuve in terms of udices and opinions which shroudcd hecn in the past all that is solid melts
c-:Ym>iui points. into air, all that is holy is profaned.
1 The demnystificadon of .o.i1 relations
 Lkeloy it, Modern Sociesies
Marxs aeroum, an inherent aspect of the development of capitalism. It
> process of demysrificarion which enables human beings, for the first
his tory, to see their social relations for what they are namely, re
nozi I ejiloiration, It is this process which places humanity at the thresh
a new cra, one that can be and wil] be ushered in by an en!igluetied
siorn rio olsociery, hat is, a transformation based on a shared knowl
vsn fled social relations, The process oideniystification inherent
iopri ciii of capitalism is thus an essential precondition for the
Hate chniiiia no of exploitative class relations even if, as I indicated in
picvms chapter. Man sometimes acknowledged that symbolic forms
r,nsintticd i; In [lie past may persist at [he heart of the present and deflect
bc Elicit of cvol u ri ona rv social change.
so to iice iCd to highlight the links between the develop
ct,dtisn iI capitalism and the ttaasforniation of culture and
it I. Lc NI arL, he saw ii association between the rise of industrial
p c, si d dir d ssol ion of radi rioiial values and beliefs. But Webers
ti tie s flow rlic of Marx iii several j niportant respects. In the first
ti c. Weber argued thu changes in the sphere of culture and tradition were
no ira h jn produ Cs of the au tonornou deveioprnen t of capt ralism: on
nary citu N iransloriii anons iii religious ideas and practices were
ui Cl c iu:d:rioris bar the emergence a 1 capralisrn its the \Vet.
o;: Wcixr on argue tiLat. once Lndustrial capitalism had
cab 1. cd j ms ii tic prd.nisnanr form ofeconontic at-i the course
,
:ycxLccxathi and eighteenth cenwnes. it acqued a momentum aIim
md Wspcree.t with the religious ideas aid practices that had been
I icc ssarv to !ts eriicrgcrice. [he development of capitalism. together with
nac i 1 the bureaucratic state. progrsiveIy radonaiized action
aiij J prcJ itcu;tl4t bcluaviour to criteria of technical efficiency. The purely
4
it on.. poraa tic-mi md cirt000nal elements of traditional action were
os b thc demands ofpurposiverational cakularion and technical
cHit rncv Miicwas mime early Puritans had pursued rational economic
a calling. [dr subquenr geieraflons this acthin became a
in persnhia power which circuniscnbed the lives of individuals
F: s. a] i
11.1 con t I 1 dci with clue exorabilitv of an iron cage.
IC cS4SC F unjera-,o. to remodel the world and to work out its ideals in
wnr$ci. ,xarcr.s goods have gained an increasing and finally an inexorable
ovc r cs of Ellen a am no previous nod in ltisro. Today the
asceticism whether tinily. who knows? has escaped from
._
But -ictorious capitalism. siflcc it rests on mechanical foundations.
is u ptort no oliger- The rosy blush outs laughmng heir, the Enlighten
Ideology in Modern Soielies 79
nient, seems also to be irretrievably fading, and the idea ofdury in ones calling
prowls about in our livc ikt- the ghost oldead religious beliefs.
2
While both Marx and Weber discerned a connection between die
development of industrial Capitalism and the dissolution of ttaditional
religious beieh. the tone of iheit accounts is altogether different Whereas
Mant spoke of the demysijkuicrn of social relations and regarded this as the
precondition for rho ultimate emancipation from exploitative class relations.
Weber spoke instead of the disencira,,,,neni of die modern world, in which
some of the cradinonal and distincove values niWesrern civilization were
submerged beneath the increasing rationalization and bureaucratization of
social life, and he regarded his, with some regret, as the Inc of modern
ames.
2 The views of Marx and Weher amoiig others, provide the hackcloch
against which some thinkers lave argued that the formation and diffusion of
ideologies is a distinctive characteristic of the modern era. This argument.
evident already in the work of Ma,inheini, has been developed in recent
years by a variety of authors Here I shall try to reconstruct the argument in
a general way, without adhering too closely to rut work of ally particular
theorist. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centunes so the
argument goes the process of secularization was beginning to rake hold in
the industrial heartland, oi Europe. As more and more peopie were swept off
the land and into the cities to form a labour Ioe for the expanding factories
of industrial capitalism, the old traditions, religions and myths began to ow
their grip on the collective imagination. The oLd ties of bondage between
lord and serf, ties shrouded in die veil olloyalty and tiuwal obliganon. were
increasingly called into qucshon, individuals were thrust into a new set
social relations based on rhc private ownership of the means of production
and the cxchanee of cornniodicies and labour power in the market. Ar the
same rime as this new set of social relations was being formed, political
power was increasingly concentrated in the institutions of a secularized state
that is, a state based on a notion oIsovereigncy and the formal rule of law
and justified by an appeal to universal values, rules and rights, rather than b
an appeal to some religious or mystical value or being which would endow
political power with the authority of a divine will, The modern state is
distinguished from the political institutions of the ancie,i rgime by. among
other things, the fact chat it is located entirely within the socialhistorical
world, and hence the struggle br and exercise of power becomes a mundane
mater which is embedded in the language of reason and science, interests
and rights.
 A hyde, r Cr
T}it: sccujanzanoii of social lit and of polit rr .\I:.Jro >L&I
ical pow er creat ed the condi Moscow trials, the denunciation of Staiimsm
I LU C] ] crircc and cliftilsicin of ideologies In this and ocher political tin & op
Lgin ate u ridt estood prii Hart ly as secular ontext ideo nienrs and atrocities of recetH year the --
belief sysrenis which have a s, old ideo loQi cs sw mit nun yr. tic
itg a ial egiunia flog hincrion. The late eighteenth and nineteenth cenmrics had
late eigh teendi and early nine lu-at, it as argued. tuuch
cc, rut c marked the bg:mnng of the their persuasive power. These ideologies had rake
age of ideologies in this sense, ti hold primarily among
a exprcsed in cite great political revolutions groups of intellectuals who had become disaffecte
in France and America and ui d with ex:snng social ai:ci
tic-pr o Ic 0 on f pof i ncaI doctrines or political institutions, and who had expressed their
isns, from socialism al id commun disaffection by ailing or
m cc ii itcrai 15th, conservatism and nano radical change. But the political events of the early
nalis irt. The diffusion of political twentieth century had
U nctri tin w:is facii hated, d thei refficacy exposed rhc nalvery and the danger ot
enhanced, by two further develop such calls, U was hct-oniizii
cit n-a term nc of the eigh tenth increasingly clear to intellectuals and others that
and nineteenth centuries: the expan the problems confronting
sion of rite newspaper industry developed irLdustrial societies coul d nor be resol
and the growth of literacy. These ved by die kind of radical
I reastrigly enabled indiv
social change espoused by Marxism and com
iduals to read about the social and mun ism, since this kInd of
os change gave risc to siriiilar problems and
Id to share the expe tienc
e otothen tli wltoni they did nor to new forms of violence and
ir;teraci to their cvcxydav lives The repression. Hence the end of ideology tlteonsrs
horizons of individuals were thereby disce rned the emergence n>t a
cpa:ided, dcv became potential parti sew consensus: the old ideological politics were
cipants of a public sphere in which giving va> to a new sense
cit-bated and positions were challenged of pragniatisni iii the developed indu
or supported by means of strial societies. Revolutionary passion
caso tis a a u mcii was waning and was being replaced
i Id ts- I Wa-, n the cleared space
of the public sphere lila t the b> a pragmatic, piecemeal approach
dlsccttl i-sc of ideclogis social change within the framework in the
appeared, coiisri curin g orga nized sysc ei

West at least ol a mixed
of beliefs economy and a redistrihudve welfare
is
c liich ofteresi coherent intcrpretaricins oi socia scare . The end of ideology rheorisrs
l and political phen ome na, generally recognized that ideologies wou
3 tic b s-ned to i tohilizi sociai movements ld cont inue to flourish it. ess
and rojus tily rile exer cise of developed societies, and they did nor altog
to b_k O;t ig:cs nu.% prov
-
idcd Iraiiics ot flicanmog, as it were which ether rule out the possibility than
ivid iia{ to tfl(-Iita IC Clients? v ri a world enabled revolutionary passions might occasionally reap
characcethed by a certain sense pear as isolated arid
o nan1it sritr, a scrie pi oduced by the dcstr sequential outbursts in the developed indu
ucnon of traditional ways ofhfe strial cocieries, But they
and by rite deitnsc of religious and mythical worl maintained char, as a general situation
dviews. in which the political arena is
animated by radical and revolutionary doctrines
which arouse passion and
cu I ural tr ansiorina ti otis associacrd with heated conflict, the age of ideologies is over
1
the and ideology has ceased to be a
i ridus trial soc etiks crea ted a ii ew space with nse of node rn signiflcant feature of modern industrial societies,
in which ideo logie s coul d Of course, the end ofideology theorists were usin
ti Lrsia, Cl US as space whic it could, in the view of some theorists g the ternxideologV in a
cit wit h yh c so bscquent deve be close d very special sense. Ideologies, in their view, were
i opines r of modern societies. The idea that not secular belief systems of
o dr logi es has crttnr to alt the any kind: rather, they were comprehensiv e, toral izing
art-
end is isor a new idea, nor
is ii all idea which docrnnes uanch offer a
is hared hv all rheonsrs
coherent vision of the socialhistorical worl d
who have argued that ideologies are a disti and which demand a high
karurt oldie mnoderm, era; it ts an idea which nctive degree of emotional attachment For mos of t these
could be seen as constituting a theorists. Mardsni was
ti cIa, but b no milearis generally
the epitome oi ideology iTi tins sense. Marx
share twist to the grand narrative of
d, isnm offered a svsrenudc,
rotalizing vision of the socialhistorical worl
ii i
t$ rnianoii. The socalled eliti
of ideology rliess Was originally d, It predicted a Riture which
per br ward by a range of liberal would be radically different from the prese
and comiservad ye chin ken, including nt. and y,hich cocihi onk he
uvmnwc \roit, Daniel Bell. Seymour Upse realized through the dedicated action of indiv
t and Edward Shils, although an iduals who believed un
ccho or his ricsi can be heard today in ongo flinchingly in their cause. These were the char
ing theorencal 4 acteristic.s of ideology
ontni a fom mu a] ic II. C C td of ideology thesi debates. in its roralizing. utopian, immipassiotmed, dogmatic. The
s was n argument about the end ofideology in this sense
;21n-ed thilzv: was not necessarily the end oi polit ical deba
aI or -evo lutio nary polin cal te and conflict, of contrasting
.
doct rines in the political progranmnies which expressed
Un-eloped indusrn-al societies ofhoth East ern genu ine differences of interest and
Euro pe and the West In the opinion. &r these debates, conflicts and prog
c ak C .
U St-colai Xtx Ii 1ar. the defeat of Fascism rammes would rio longet be
and Nazism, tile animated by totalizing, utopian visions
which incited individuals to
 $2 lin&yy n LJto Sr:ieises
nvolu tI urn Idio at:? n _\ L urn S
r-v acdc it and h judd them
to any considerations whic
1.
Tartan c vicw With cIte passing of h were namely, the development ola range oItns
cite age nturions concerned with the mass
procsse could be increasingly insntunonaltz of ideologies, political production and nan distribution of
symbolic good; I shall docuriaca du
ed with in a pluraiisuc development and draw out sonic of its impl
ii which
nt
p hdcai parnes or groups com peted for power and ications in stibsequent chtptrr.
lpir:nadn rrd pragmati
c policies of socia reform, ideologies Here it will suffice to say that, insofar as the
were nor so tradi tional riarrtivc neglecs
much an raden& kature of the mod this detelopment, it offers a seriously misl eadin
ern era as a passing symptom of g account of the cuiturj
a aodcrnizacaon. a yiuptoln tratsforniario,nassuciated with the rise of niod
whic h wou ld gradually disappear as industrial erusocnucs Tue insururit-is
societies reached a stage of economic and processes of mass conununicacion have
and political rnarurity assumed such fundai,iental
significance in modern soneries that no
account of ideology and inoderi;
it r-c flU red tbi grand iatra
culture call afford to neglect them,
rive of culnrral crajisfotmarion in order
rse a senes of issut about the natu It is olcourse true that some of the theorists who
re md role of ideology in modern the grand narrative of cultural transform could be assot,atcd w,Eia
it isa narrative rh different clen aen ation have commented or, rh:
and seve ral sup locs and development of mass communication.
I adicared earlier I do nor wan r to
For instance, Mviii Goirldner,

sugg est that the who le story can be drawing on Habermass early work, discusses
f aund in dir work of any single author. the ways IT wInch the develop
I have abstr acted from detai led nent of printing anti the newspaper industry
vrjat,or and elaborations ri orde facilitated die formation of
r to sketch a general line of argu ment public sphere in which political issue
t lucU is .ieeply embedde s were debated and ideolngie
d in the literature ofsocial and political theo
which continues to structure debates abou ry, and flourished. But Gou ldne rs account
t the nature and role of culture is limit ed and partial at besr and hr
and i:lrologv in :,iodern sucreties. I now want hardly considers the implications ofrnore
to turn from rcconstruc6on to recent forms oi
cion, particularly those involving elect
criricai asessmcnr. In so
doing I do not want to suggest that there ronic storage and ttansnaissiolz
is nothing Indeed, Couldncr tends to conceive of
ur 0g. al iii rho grand narranve:
my aim is not to dismiss this ideologies as discrete symboliL
iajzi anve
systems which are realized above all in writi
ala i& ennr ely, hut r ther to highlight cerrai ii respects in ng, and which serve, -as written.
rn-v view, inisicad lug. I
whicb it is, rational discourse, to animate public proje
shall restrict my cts of social reconstruction. Hence
[lien an !naily ocher issues that coul be
atten tion to two inaafl Issues. Coulduer is led to the conclusion tint the growth of electronic media, such
d addr essed in this cont ext a Line of as- radio and television, marks the decline
icrac so broad in scope is of the role of deologv in modern
bound to raise man y ques tions and problems. societies. Ideology is incteasingly displaced
Hut ow concern lcss with detailed dilEculties than with from society as a whole, lien
rut wari o ti to show that, for reasons generai short consciousness is shaped more and more
oi a fundamental kind, the by the products of the electronic
grand n-arranve 1 cultural rransIbrrnadou media; ideoLogy is increasingly cn.thned
is not a suitable framework to the restricted sphere of dir
s niufI wlaacli to analyse the nature and role universities, where intellectuals continue culti
of ideology in modern societies. to vate the written word, Tim
liar irs uaajcn shortcoming of the gran is not exactly a version of the end of ideology
d narrative is that, by characteriz thesis, since Gouldncr
iIa th cultural rransfiwmadorts assoctited acknowledges a continuing, albeit resrr
with the rise ofmodern iiidusrriai icrcd, role fdr idcokgv in con
socreocs prlniarilv in temnis ot the proc temporary societies. But to argue that ideo
esses of seculazation and radonahza logy bears a privileged relation to
non, this account downplays the sign writing arid hence cannot be implicated
iflcance of what I have called the in the development of electronic
:icdjazsLi,n td modern cuinire. The prob communication is at best a shortsigh ted
lem here is not simply that the view , for it severs thc analysis of
processes of secularizaijo,: and ranonalizarion ideology from the very forms of mass conu
may have been less sweeping nuni cation which are of greatest
and less uiiiIjrmn than earlier social theorists significance today. So while the development
sonietinies suggested though of mass communication has
sr pa abably c)Ae case that these prote not been aLtogether neglected by some auth
ors who could be associated with

sses were overemphasized, and that the grand narrative of cultural transform
reigious bolauts and pracncc-s are more ation, we may doubt whether they
persistent features of modern have provided a satisfactory account
societies than the early social theorists of this development and of its
prohicria :-:. bat the preaccu panon with,ina&ned. More importantly, the implications for the analysis ofideology.
processes of secularization and The second nujor shortcoming of the gran
rationalization has render! to occlude d narrative concerns the ways
a development which was of much in which the concept of ideology is employe
ater sagnifleance for th nature of cultural form d within it. This concept is used
s in niodern societies in differing ways by different thinkers and
it would be erroneous to suggest
 -, .%bat rfl S.. crier
a ic at u nvocaI sense witkun the grand narrative. But
hdit1e cc ree of uge. we can see that &s concept is
used c discrete belief systems or symbohc stems which
wiged in the wakc of secularanc,n and which have ed to mobile
pobncal movements and/or legitimate political power in modern societies;
the genera] usage, in ocher words is consistent with what I have called a
m;LIiTaI CoOception o ideology. This general usage is given a specific
inflection by particular theorists or groups of theorists. We have seen, for
dpi C, that a tu iltaei tends to use ideology to refer to symbolic sytetiis
cat cJ p i lartiv in rid i, and which ani mare public projects
icr:r,suu non b nwatm of radoii discourse. The end ofideolo
j);flSi, c COatIa3t, rend rouse the term to refer to that specific subset of
i.crctr jiincal biicf systems or doctrines which arc comprehensive and
a Manism and cornniurusrn, iris this restriction of the term
nables r1i ii to pn.-dict with a confidence that no doubt contains a
ral of wublu thinking char die age of ideologies rs now over.
Tiie main problem with this general usage of the term
ideology and its
specific inflections is that it tends to downplay or dissolve die link between
ideology and domination. In the previous chapter 1 examined this link and
liawd it in relat-&ot I the principal concepuons of ideol which have
citirigri in the courc oithe last two crnruries, Ifwe draw upon this analysis
i::rc arj accept the crrncai conception of deoiv prod in the prnious
ecat see iliac the general usage of ideology in dwgrand nanadve
txmacie ii 11% o key respects. ii the first place, it obliges us to regard
i:riaHv ,nskrn pe nonienon, that is, as a phenomenon
c:cnn ;shicii emerged in the course of capitalist
dimn.alzzation diinng the sevenicench, eighteenth and nineteenth
But tins, sec ins to me, is an overly restricdve view. It is not neces
sail to define the concept of ideology in terms ofa particular body ofpoliri
Cal doctrines, belief systems or symbolic systems which are characteristic of
cerLalri societies only at a certain stage oi their
historica development
concept adnucs, as c have seen, of many other definitions, and it is by
Inca i tear chat t incnng the Concept modern societies
CO is the
ut filununaung ay to proceed. Must we accept
that it
to speak of deolugy iii societies which preceded capiralisrindu
strializa
n,-ii Europe, that it makes no sense to speak ofideology in preinduirrial
f:u ro
e,
1 , rin nonindustr ial societies elsewhere in the world? I think
iin I.: Li pertcccl) possible to elaborate 4jusriiiable conception
ntoLy bach nit resnicted to a particular body of doctrines chat have
ni ci ged in the noderti era.
he general usage of ideology in the grand narrative is also misleading in
ideItv in rn .Srk,:.-.
if we so far as it directs our attention cowards dkcrecc poinca doctni;es n-itcf
systems or symboLic systems, and therefore turns our atre,qti:ii a -a% tin::
the multiple ways in wiuch symbolic forms are used, iii die varied coiirexrs of
everyday life, to establish and sustain relations of domination. There is no
clear and convincingjustificarion that can be drawn, either from the history
of the concept of ideology or from a reflection on the ways in which power is
maintained, for restricting the analysis of ideology to the study of dkc-rete
political doctrines, beliefsystems or symbolic systems. To do so would he to
take an overly narrow view of the nature and role of ideology in modern
societies, and to neglect awide range ofsynibolic pheiinmena which supporl
forms ofpower in the social contexts ofevervday life. Once again. ii oniJ
not be said that all of the authors associated with the grand narrative espouse
a consistent conception of ideologies as discrete political dr,ctriics. belief
systems or symbolic sysrena More often than not, each oftbee authors use,
the term ideology in differing ways in different works, or even thin lie
-
covers ofa single work. But iris unquestionably the case that tim conccprion
of ideologies as discrete political doctrines features prominently among
these uses, and it is primarily as such that the alleged rise and tall of
ideologies in the modern era is traced, It we put aside this conception, .e can
also put aside the view that ideologies first appeared with the dawn of the
modern era and have since disappeared from the social anici political domain,
and we can reorientate the study of ideology rowarth the multiple .l
varied ways in which symbolic ft,rtns have been used, and continue to be
used, in the service of power whether in modern Western societies or in
social contexts that are situated elsewhere in time and space
Ideology and Social Reproduction
So far I have been examining a general theoretical narrative about the
cultural transformations associated with the rise of modern tidustrial
. The
no societies, a narrative which offers a distinctive account of the nature Mid role
of ideology in modern societies. I have criticized this narrative both Far its
most
pornayai ofrulniral transformation and for its account of idei,logv nm
makes no
want to turn to a second set oi assumptions which have underpinned much
recent work on the analysis of ideology. This work is different in mans ways
not It from the writings which have been strongly influenced by the grind
nanarive of cuLtural transformatioru it is generally 1
of ess historic a!
Orientation, and it is more concerned with analysing the conditions under
which socienes in general, and contemporary capitalist societies in par
ticular, are sustained and reproduced. Much of this work is Marost in
 fl 3 IcJcp Sth icties 1deoui,y in 310J.r.i .S eicur t r
.lrIcrador and is gerieraih regarded as a contribution to a Marxist theory of This general theoretical account has a certain prima fade plausihihir. it
de1og. and the stare. The vnrlngs of Aithusser and Poulanaas have been emphasizes the importance of collectively shared values and bejicts.
urticiilailv ntluerLna[ in this regard; and partially as a result of their efforts, diffused by agencies and officials of the stare, in helping to sustain snciJ
the t rst-nIgs or ( ralnsci have aiso featured prominently in recent debares.S
3
order in societies based on divisions of class. Despite this prima lane
The ideas oi thcsc rheon.scs have been taken up and elaborated by many plausibility, however. I think it can be shown that tins general theoretical
ii! teren . uriors hurope and elsewhere? Here I shall not attempt to
account is seriously deficient. Let me consider each step in
3 r hr dca. these theorists, or the work o 1 their followers and criti
I The account begins with the claim that sociaL reprcxluctioii requires both
t. mu any detail DeiLed eminanons of this nd are
a;rcad available in the lireraiure. However, I do want to consider some of
3 the reproducrion of the material conditions of social lii and the repro
the assmnipno3m which undrrhe the work of Altbusser, Poulanczas and duction of collectively shared values and beliefs. It respires the reproduction
of the material conditions of social life in the sense that the mcan nt
t-.. [tBsc asnniptioils form part of a general theoretical account
h--rh d in contemporary social and political theory. I shall
4
;-despre production (tools, machinery, factories, etc.) and time means of stibsistence &r
dc .-r c ac rout it as the general thany .f stawargansced and ideologically producers houn. clothing, fond, etc.) must be continuously provided and
renew-cd as an ongoing aspect of social iCe. There is more than a hint of
i- r-Jsr r 1cprL&-ior 5 or a theory which is expitcirly articulated by
an r,-articuiar author, but ckte anunmpnons which conipdse this rheo.y can functionalism in cbs contention, but it can also be construed
r} C counterfactual way: if the means of producnon and subsistence were tint
be 3 SC It::: i U I irigs of particular authors. Moreover, these
continuously provided and renewed, then existing social relations would
rap ri.: Li EZ Sn hi cien ;ides presd ii the con ceniporary Litetamre, and
a;-. Li lb 3 fl r break down and crisis and conflict would ensue. Here [ do not sish to
U oi the wan iii which problems of polincs and
examine in further detail the Logic of this argument, and the plausibility oi
id 1r>gv aree ii :;:eivcd, that ii is worthwhile to fonnulare the assumptions
tXPi, tl
this councerfactual construal, as my main concern is with a different issue
tee c srz net h ge-u era] I he-ore-rica! argu rncnt wbich, taken
Social reproduction requires not only the reproduction of the mnatetial
- tais ru te and to assess lie-mr strengths and weakjiesses.
hr gcYIiet al dunn of sraTe-organiLed and ideologically secured social conditions of social life, but also the reproduction of coHecdvev shared
i mdv be seen as a partial answer to the following question:
1
rcprodtcii values and beliefs that is, it requires the continuous pro.ision and renewal

Lv do socIeties iii genera, amid coiiteiflpoflry capitalist societies in of symbolic forms which are, to some extent, collectively shared and whith
par ncu serve, to some extent to mould the actions and attitudes clindividuals. Jr is
a persist ii spire of the di 1sions and inequalities which
.1: acre r zr then,
this continuous provision and renewal olsymbohic forms winch ensures so
The [licor othrs a partial answer to this question by
acre tnpnn o i son me the argument goes the ongoing submission of individuals to the nornianve
tIme rt-t hanxsnis which secure the repro
claction o existing sociai relations. We tan reconstn,ct the theory in ternis rules and conventions of the social order. They are moulded to fir the parts
which are scripted for them in the great play of social reproducnon.
of three umin steps.
This account is a particular version of what we may describe as
consensual tlwwy of social reproduction, According to this theory. the ongoing
The reproduction of eisniig social relations requires nor only the repro
reproduction of social relations depends in part on the existence of sialiirs
duction oldie material conditions ofsocmal life (food, housing, machinery,
and beliefs which are collectively shared and accepted by individuals, and
etc.), but also the rcproducnoii of collectively shared values and beliefs.
which thereby bind individuals to the social order. This theory admits of
2 Some of die coliecdveh shared values and beliefs cansiimre the elements
many variations, but we can distinguish between two mail variants: i/me
of a dominant ideology which, by being diffused throughout society,
consensual theory, which maintains that there are certain core values and
secures the adherence of individuals to the social order.
beliefs (freedom, democracy, equality of opportunity, the sovereignty of
3 The production and diffusion oldie dominant ideology is one of the tasks
parliament, etc.) which are widely shared and firmly accepted; and I/IC
of the stare, or of particular agencies amid officials of the stare. In carrying
d/frreniiated consensual theory, which places less emphasis on the existence of
out this task, the state acts in the longterm interests of the class or classes
core values anti beliefs and stresses instead the importance of values and
which benefit znost Frozn exisung social relations that is, it acts in the
beliefs which are specific to the roles and positions of individuals who are

Jongrenn interests of the dominant ci ass or classes.
 88 koItwy in sfodern Societies ideology in Modem Societies 8
n rite .1 viicn of abour. These two variants are often consensus ofan orchestrated perlormance ni which ijidiwduals have lrsrncd
:-oinh rd rinngs ot particular authors, but they do not necessarily their respective parts so well that they can play without a score and v.nthout
,nc i whet. both vagia,Its or the consenual dienry nevertheless suffer the explicit orchestration of a conductor. By virtue of the fact that
Iron, serious urn rations. Let us consider some of these. individuals have acquired rolespecific se of values and beliefs and play
The nm difficuiry with the core consensual theory is that it exaggerates their parts so effectively in the routine course of their dayto-day lives, the
particular values and bebe are shared and acceptth by Social order of which their routine activity is part is reproduced. Thert is no
unilviduals modern industrial socictics. Although the relevant evidence is need for all or most individuals to share a core set of values and beLiefs, so
it vt iii usi c. it rends to irathcate a n,uch higher degree of dissensus F long as all or most individuals have acquired the rulespecific sets of values
and disaffectv,n, ofsccpricisrn and cynicism, than the core consensual theory and beliefs which enable them (and impel them) to perform successfully
would suggese One study of a range of empirical material from Britain and their respective parts.
the U titred Stares fuitd rh-ar the material showed no significant degree of No doubt there is some plausibility to the account ofsociai reproduction
conscus coikcerning values and beliefs. The study also found that the offered by the differentiated ronsensual theory (or some version thereof). it is
degreef dsrsu, varied front one class to another with workingclass no doubt the case that processes of socialization, as well as the routine and
respondents displaying iess conscnsi3s and less internal consistency in their continuous inculcation of values and beliefs, play a cual role in endowing
values and beliefs than nuddlcclass respondents.H Other studies, carried out individuals with the social skills and attitudes which govern their subseq uent
in I3ncain in the I 960s and I J70 . suggest that many workingclass people
5 behaviour. However there are nvo respects itt which this account tends
cject sines nd righrs associated with capital accumulation and properry
to
overemphasize the extent to which individuals are mould ed social
by
ow lcrbhip; many dunk that big business has too much wer in soc and processes. Individuals arc treated essentIally as the products of; or
I ha i LUre is re law for the rich arid another 1
as
or the poor and many believe constituted by, the processes of sociali zation and inculca tion to which they
that they haw no sigiuifitrant influence on government and that the political are subjected. But individuals are never simply the sum total of processes of
system is not responsrve to what ordinary people think and Want) 2 These
socialization and inculcation; they are never simply actors who obedie ntly
tugs. v hmi red, renra rice and no somewhat dared in nature, cast perform the rokswhich, arescriptedforthem.lrispartoftheir veryna
ture qu
consudcrablc doubt nit the core consen sual theory oi social reproduction. It human agents that they are capable. to some extent, of distanc ing theniselves
ciantio Sc iauibiy assumed that there is a core set oi
values and beliefs from the social processes to which they are subjected, of reflect ing these
on
which are videly shared and firmly accepted by individuals in modern processes, criticizing them, contesting them, ridiculing them and, sonic
industrial societies, and which thereby bind individuals to a common in
circumstances, rejecting them. It is irnpotrantto see, however, that this critical
norr:Iarlve fiaiiiework. for it seems likely chat most core values and beliefs and conrestatory relation to processesolsocializarion atid inculcation doesno
t
ate conresied arid that there is a fairly high degree of disagreement and necessarily disrupt social reproduction and this brings us to the second
-
Jsaticczrx;. ]f aciai reproduction were dependent on a-generaLized respect in which the dif&rentiated consensual theory can bemisLeadin g. In the
accepratice of cot-c values and beliefs, then the ongoing reproduction oldie course of their everyday lives individuals typically move throug h a
soci-aF order v auld seem very improbable indeed. multiplicity ofsocial contexts and are subjected to conflic tingsoc ial pressu
-
- res
iIw differentiated conseitsual theory does not suffer from the same and processes. Rejecting one set of values and norms may coincid e with
-
.iifftciduy Tiis theon does not assume the existence ofa core set ol values accepting another, or may fcilitate their participation in social
activities
nd b< cfs itch at v dels shared; rather, it assumes only that there exist which sene ipsojano, to reproduce the status quo. Willis provides
an excelle nt
dihrerit sets it valut s and beliefs which are pecilic to particular roles and illustration of how the reproduction of rhe social order can an be uninre n
positions, such that an individual situated in or destined for a particular role tional outcome of the rejection of the values and norms propagated
by the
or position w II acquire the appropriate values and beliefs- The consensus official agencies of secondary socialization, i.e. the schools. In his
study ofa
hi cxtsrsntuo st much a consensus among a plurality of individuals group ofworking-class boys he shows that their cynical and contestatory vme
about a core cr of values alit1 beliefs, hut rather a cotisetisus tween a role ofschool authorities, and their rejection of the individualistic ethos and ion
pec tic cet o;al 0 es-ui d be 1 e Is, on the one hand, and the vau es and beliefs mammal career orientation espoused by the educat ional system. makes them
of the individual incumbents of the role or position. on the other. Iris the more (rarher than less) suitable for postschool employment in workingcl
ass
 I Ic Ly in SI o rn Si ii efirs
.
Ideology In stlojeiii Soc ena 9
Uction O Ran tIM labo ur is lot the ou tcoriic oi a seamle argument goe, both the ease with which dom
hcrwecn dic values and behcfs ofuidividuals ss ii
inant groups luini nate at
and a rOLC
C
6 SpCC1 set ofvalun the resignation with which dominated grou
ac.i be wi s whi k. s prov&ded. as were, by the ps accept their d,niinadon. r,t
educ ation al syste si; on the dominant ideology is a symbolic system which,
precisely bccausc these teenagers do iwr incorpora by incorporating individuals
te the va ties from alE strata into the social order, helps to
be cfs propagated b the educ arional s ysreni that reproduce a soctal order; iicl
they accept so readily serves the interests of dominant groups
tii burJc is ol nan ni a bout
Both vauaut of die consensual theory o sociaL In previous discussions I have already raised sonic
reproduction therefore of the points which
weigh most heavily against this soca lled dom
stiller I oni cerui1 lixiliranons. Whi le the diffe renti inan t ideolo gy tiesis. and
ated cons ensuat theory is there is rio need to dwell on them extensively now
fire so ,Insric cd rid more plausible than the core cons
1 Let nrc br ICfI\ elaborate
ensual theory, both the essential points. First, the dominant ideolo
OLin vs pl ace rio much mip basis
on consen sus gy thesis presumes what we
and conv erge nce in term s could describe as the social cement skecny if ideolo
o values and bekefs. and both downpla y the prev gy. That is. it presume thM
alenc e and sign ifica nce of ideology works like a kind ofsocial cement, bind
divcuus and disagieenwnr, of scepticism and cynicis ing individuals to a social
m, of cont estad on and order which oppresses them. Bun, as we have
cc illict Both variants of the consdnsuat theo
j
ry seen, there is nor iriuch
that evidence to support the claim that individuals
-
ducuox, is rile outcoiiw tn part of a consensus conc
assunl e social repro from different strata arc
ernin g values and beliefs bound to the social order in this way. It
core or colt -specific), but
the ongoing repro may be that dom inan t values anti
duct ion of the social beliefs are shared by sonic men,brrs of dom inan
Dicier ii probably more dependen
t on the fact that indiv t grou ps, endo wing these
idua ls are embedded groups with a certain cohesiveness, but there is little
war, et A d iftererit soctal con texts, that they carry evid ence to support the
out their lives in view that such values and beliefs are widely
tine anti regularized Wa whic h are shared by members of
yi not necess arily anim ated by subordinate groups. Hence the dominant ideology
o reran: I rug values and beliefs, and chat there is a lack thesis, in so lr as it
of consen sus at the very presumes that dominant values and beliefs com
here oppusi rio,iai art, tudes inigh prise an ideology which
t be trans lated in to coherent works like cement, fails to explain what it seeks
puh neal actim. The prevalence of sceptic al to explain. namely, why its
and cynica l attitu des, and the that merribers of subordinate groups act in ways whic
rejection of values and he1ief propagate d by h dci nut uxidern ii nt
the princ ipal agencies of the social order,
a b anon. do not nec essanh represen a chall enge to the sia order. To criticize the dominant ideology thesis in tIns way
Sceprickin and iosnlity are often interfused with is lot to d cu
traditional and con certain symbolic forms have
a great deal of synibolic value in nor societies,
auwe values and are often tempered by sense of resignation. Divisions nor is it to deny that these sym
in r:mstiied along use lines
bolic forms may, in certa
of gender, ethnicity skill . and so on, form ing serve to establish, sustain and
in circumstances,
ban jers which obstruct the development of repro duce relations ofdo mixi atior i even less i
movemen ts whic h coul d it to suggest that the concept of ideology has no useful role to
tin t-aren the status quo. [he reproduenon of the pav iii the
social orde r does nor analysis of social and polit
ical life. The problem with the
uire
1 deep underlying consensus concerning values and bet dominan t ideology
iefs, so thesis is simply that it offers a much too simp le
as there is scitficient dissensus to prevent the formation acco unt of how ideology
ot an effective works in modern societies. ft assumes that a parti cular
ppItio:ui asoecinent. sct ui values and
beliefs constitutes the elements of a dominant
ideo iogy which, by being
diffused throughout society, binds individuals ofail strata
2 he eonscirsuai thcory of social repro to the socrl order:
duct ion is read ily linke d to a but the ways in which symbolic forms serve to main
pattiLular cuncepnon of ideology. Sonic tain relanro or ru
of the values and beliefs about domination are far more com plica ted than this
WIndI ii coilsensus is prest
inied to exist arc rega acco unt wou ld sugges t. The
rded as cons tituting the notion of social cement is a conc eptu al conv
clettients ol a donunarn ideology which secures the enien ce which obscur es the very
adhe renc e of individuals issues that must be examined by a more satisfa
to he social order. Th dominant ideology provides the sym ctory appr oach to the
bolic glue, as it phenomenon of ideology. Rather than assu ming that
wel-c. which unifies the so al ordet and binds individua a parn eular set of
ls to it. By virtue of values and beliefs serves ipsofacto to bind indiv idua ls of
pcrvas cc presence of rue dominant ideology, individua all strat a to the social
ls from all social order, a more satisfactory approach must exam ine
itrata are incorporated into a social orde die was ii: shic
r whic h is struc tured in unequal individuals differentially situated in the social order respo
It is the pen-asiveness oldie dominant ideology which explain nd to -and make
s so the sense of particular symbolic forms, and how these sym

bolic torms, when
 v Jcovcy in Modem Sciee
Ideoliigy in Modern Sock iiis 9
analysed Ti relation to tile contexts in which state is seen. primarily and u tma tely.
they arc produced. received and as an instI run
,iridersrood, sccve or do not serve) to estab through which class power is sustained. it
iiiai tileC rain
lish and sustain relations of is coIn nion y ackncwki4ged
Iimtiiarituii, To shortcircuit this analysis following some occasional remarks of Enge and
with
--
a general assumption about ls som e of Marxs
rue encinu properncs of symbolic forms (or substantive analyseslS that the various institutio
ofsy mbolically transmitted
ns of the starr ma have a
ucs ud be lie 1) is to bolster up an degree of autonomy from the immediate interests
impl ausible theory of social arid acovities ut be
LT-preducxion with what is, at best, a very parti dominant class or class factions; but this autonomy always
al account ofideology and its is
o ode ut opera rioll In 0 odorn societies, limited by the
fact that, in the jast instance, as the saying gs, [lie stare
operates wthin a
set of boundary condition s whic h are defin
Thc pr d cmi and ed by the class char acter of the
diffu sion of the do Inina nt ideology is generally production process. The role or func tion of
ctaidcd as one of the tasks and accompli the stare comnc ides with the
shments of the stare, or of longterm interests oi the dominan t class, altho ugh the state
aucilor a ;dnties 4
1 nd officiak of the sratt. Which agencies are may best fulfil
rega rded this role by mainta fling certain distance, a relanve auto
pat tic Liar ir,iporrant in duis rega as noil y, from he
rd varies from one author to anot her. Let immediate aims of the dominant class and its facti ons,
LTS consider bncfl) rue
work of Althusse r In an influ entia l artic le The main problem with this approach to
di ru uishts berwcirn tie rcpresSiv Airh usser bc state is nor that it ieavc-s
e state -app aratu s, hicl i com prise s the unresolved the questions olliow mach auto
ver iinen nomy isre iariv c autonomy. .,id
ie c vii service, dir polic what it means to speak ofthc stare and its apparatuses as deter
e, the cour ts, the priso ns. the armed mine in the
foi ccs. en- arid the ideological scare d
apparatuses, which inclu last instance bythe economic mode of production. These quesTi
irk, urelics, ihe ch,ols, the fanii ly, the legal de the ons are
system, the political system, the unresolved and probably unresolv able, but they are
ade tin ons, rite svsten; of iilass con unun also hrgel ofsshoiasta
icarion, and culwral acuvi nes like interest. The main problem is that this appr oach does nor dojusrice to the
sprt. and the at rs. One ought reasonably doub kistotical dnrelopment and distinctive character
t whether it is helpful or of the modern srarc. This
sensible io I tard such a broad range of insti approach conceives of the tnodem state
tutions as part and parcei of [he and its insti nitio ns prim arily
sran. Hut Airhusser argues that the appa terms of their role or function of sustaining a
rently diverse body of institutions syste m of social relat ions based
aud winch make up the ideological stare appa on class exploitation, a rolewbich is carried our in
ratuses are unified by part by the prop agation of
fr that the ideology w hick is realized a dominant ideology through the ideologicaL state
in them and through rheni is appa ratus es. But this is ar
ma ciiy the ideoingy of the doi]iinan t class that overly narrow and onesided conception of the mod
is., they are all essentially ern state. It is no doubt
niech an tsnr. for he propagation of the the case that sonic aspects and activities of the stare can
dom inan t ideology) Other be understood n
eel otrical elenteuts nay be preseir with terms oldie longterm interests oldie dominant class hut
in these apparatuses, but the it coul d Liardly
idc
z
1 ca olo l field is structured in favour of the ideoLogy maintained that state be
of the dominant class, insti tutio ns are unre spon sive to the dem ands of othe r
cs hxch cxe Ises control over The ideologic classes and major interest
al state apparatuses. Hence, on this grou ps, nor coul d it be plau sibly argu ed thai a 1
court, various itistirunons of the stare are aspects and activities of
regarded as the means through the mod ern stare, inclu ding soni c of the tijost
ii ich the dorm mint ideology is produced and diffu important aspects and activities can
sed, and through which , be analy sed in term s of class interests
di reproduerson of die relations of productio and class relations. As Max Webet
n and of individuals qua
and othe rs have obse rved , the modern
sit rcn who duly u but c to the existing order of thing stare is concerned nor only with the regu
s is secured. latio n of social and economic
kit !,ilr p Lit poseS here, there no need to exam

ine further the details of activity and die exetcise of political rule, but also with
Md tussers acco ifl i, or to exannire die maintenance of
the pern iu ratio ns that may be found In order within a given territory and the maintenan of ce territ
the rk F a Li riots ii fluenced orial boundaries
by him. Nor is there any need to isiv other 7 nationstates. The modern state has
Dii nate, di rough derailed
ati effective monopoly
textu arial
al yis, the exten t to which the on the legitimate use of force or violence within
iiiade in previous paragraphs a given territory, and
can be level led at Althussers violence is used by the state both for the purposes oi inter
ac&otl IlL Ar rhi s ragc want si rnply to use Altia nal control or
nsers acco unt as a basis on pacification, and ior the purposes of external defence
which to raise three final objections to the or offence iu--,is
gene ral theory of stareorganized other nation-states. States have developed a variety
am) idcoogicailv secured social reproduction. The of institutions and
first objection is that this agencies which are concerned, directly or indirectly ith
rh corv I Ci id to adopt a dac rtducria.act Qpproach to . the niuntenance
the rn,,den, slate. That is, the ofinrernal order and external boundaries, agencies whic
h rely extensively on
 Q4 ideology in .Sfodern &cicsies ideology in Modnn Socn,es 0
1, U 11 I. ia;! id conrrtA cl t,itornianon. These activities of carried out. On the con trarv, sctln I, lic escIit .1 to recug size Ira
the state
Id c-ri do, oine ii LEO contlict with the activities of
ocher stare are systematically asyimneti cal relAtions ol power whic I arc ascG C;-,
- c U:: H ;-a
1 a wd the act, ides of ndividaals and orga mzatons considerations other than class which are bsud,

for tistance, afl consid era-
iii I &ci don IaIIIS cf social ilk. Aixy attempt to understand the diverse dons of sex, age, or ethnic origin: and it seems to me essential to broade n the
am in es of modern stares, and the conflicts framework for the analysis of ideology to rake account of these coside
which they engend er, exclu ra
pn a Iv teems of class analYsis vould be a gross
over dons. The general theory olsraceorganized and ideologically secured soc s.d
-
-o:gidLaZloI, orrEa sucs inoive
d. reproduction. in so 1SF as it gives primary einphasi s to ciass rcian on s an
cf scaccorgar.ized and ideologically secured soctal re%ards the ideologic;il field as uidI],atelv stnjctured by the dcoiogv of nw
repi ,ducnon rends to adopt a ciassreduc rionist pproac don,inant class or class facnon, rends to overvalue the importance irlass in
b to the moder n
state. it also rends to assume a classreductionist approach to ideology. the analysis ofideology arid to marginalize other types ofdominadon as well
That is,
ogy 15:0 iicepsualized primarily and essentially in relatio as the symbolic forms which serve to sustain
n to the classes them.
flies up the so.rjal order, and it is the rnlii,g The final objection. or sales of nbjecnons. that I wssh to rasse couctru
.1 ;g. I nie deuIog ol the do,ninaric class, whirl. organLzes the the ways in which the nature and role ofmass communication are genera
l;
gicaI ieId and cxpres es itself in the ideological state apparatuses. characterized by this accoun. The institutions of mass co,,,ill
The uuIcaf loIt are
tiling or dominant ideology may incorp orate elerrients generally regarded by proponents of this account as part of the system
drawn from of
subcu ditiate roups or c-lasses, and there may be ideologies ideological state apparatuses, that is, as one oIthe mechanisnis, or as a clustet
or ideological
wl*h ca rresnd to surdinare groups or clas and which ofn,echanisrns, through which the ideology of the dominant class is realized
rdaie autotaoi]fl c.,rh regard to the dominant ideoogy. But these and the reproduction of the relations of production is secured, it univ be
su bystc Us arc onstr atned by the domin ant idedog y; they are acknowledged that these instimrions possess sonic degree of auconoiss ris-o
pars d an ide, ogic I tield which is olumately structured by the ideology one another anti visvis other aspects of the state; it nay be
of
die doininan r class. It is in this way to display Gramscis tern, acknowledged that the ideology diffused by the mass media may contain
that the
iii a or c as sea u req hegcnn ny: conflicting and contradictory demerits, may incorporate detnents drawn
chrouh the structuring of the ideo
igIta ieid, rise donisuant -hss or from sulrdinare groups. classes or class factions; but, ultimately, the
class faction is able to exercise political
duo Loud the acnvc consent ai subord inate classes and to institutions of mass communication are defined by their IiIICtIOr. cl
inccgi-ase the various factions of the dominant class into securing soc,al cohesion and reprod uction by means of the rransmlss100 and
a relatively stab]c
power bloc. inculcation of the dominant 8 ideology. While this account rightly calls
of be objuc nons rabed ear icr against coitsensual theories of attention to the importance oi mass comn,uiiication, the cliaracrertaacioti
soda1
rcc.Juenosa.jiJ be rassed again here, as this accoun whirl, it offers is. I rhthk, misleading The unstirunons of irias con
t of ideolo and
;X-:,i--n c;Oat:v nvclves aercain assump tions about the integra tion muniration arc treated in a relatively peripheral way. as some among a broad
ci
uah 21 dn social order and their consent to, or constitution range of ideological stare apparatuses; but this perspective to di justice
by,, falls
p-auth that vahtes or beliefs. but here I want to focus on a differe to the inedjazation of modern culture and, in general, to the central
nt short ity of
ii : nan ,elv, the exten to which
this accoun t relativizes ideology, mass communicaflon to modern social and political life. Today the activities
and
su -. to Class relanort U nniatel y it is the ,ded of the
of stares and goittnnients, of their organizations and ofikials. take
place
ass or cli aciox which structures the ideolical teld,
and the within an arena that is to some extent coruzitured by the institu tions and
tgics Dr ionlogi c subsystems is carried ou I ptirnaly with niechianisms of mass communication. The media of mass conin,unicario
ii
-
rcersi Ice to rise various and class factions which are nor simply one among several mechanisms for the inculcation of a
classes make up the social
orclez-. It is certainly the case that relations of domin dominant ideolog rather, these media are partial
ation and subordination ly conscitutive of the very
I ,ct we cru.-i asses and class &cri Dos are of major inirraiic e for the analysis of forum within which political activities take place in modern societies.
the
I ( would bc qui me risleadung. iii forum within which, and to some extent with regard to wl,ich, indivsduals
my view, to maintain that class
Jr in all circumstances the pflmJ. sucmral feamrc of act and react is. exercising ptiwer and in responding to the excrci4e at power
Sc lens) oturext s wi di reference to wh, cli the analysis of ideology should by others. These arc issues to which I shall return in a subsequent chapter.
be
96 IdeiIoy in Pvhdern .Soc,cflc.
The theory of state.-orgaiuzcd and ideologically secured social repro
duction not anl y aii s do ustice to the centrality and constirudve
character of ua.c> ii nn lull tan on: ako begs some of the key questions
concerning the jaw and of tied a insnru nUns in modern societies. By
ass gning a pr Ha pal role or hi icnuri to he tnsnru rions of niass corn
rnunicat ion wi rkiiri sx i al a tier riccpcu allied cssen nally in terms of Class
relanolu isid dLvLstonl. It prej udges a whole range o 1 issues concerning die
s Lw nui s have deveiod hcoricallv, the ways in
CI rc ale ora ii ed id jwrauc routinely in the producnon and
Lw goods. and the -a ys iii which the symbalic gs thus
ned and u,idcrsio, by individuak in the course of their
an cs Je citing tie i lIst in tions at tnas conununication as parr of
tat starcbr oadi 1 once; t -cd, r)j a uconnt ubscutes and m&onses the
rate of flc :oiidicr and Lcnioxis t hick characterize the relanons between
c,4noli ,aratitunons of inas Comm unflanon, on the one hand, and the
agel ic Ut altO rgI tat on. 1 clic state, on the other. These conflicts and
trroIcn can be adcqua re v u idcrsood o ly by attending more carefully to
the -:pecifit am inn ariJ all is u tic risrit U tions of mass communication, by
sing how and why ciie acrivitin and aims may clash with the conduct
age TIa;es aid orgasllz4cion the stare and by acknowledging that the
LII
C! aeitc and .,raii,zancris havc a vare of concerns which Cannot be
rc:- the lunction of secur Hg the reproduction or coheon ofa dal
h-acJ a>> c\piorartiu.
pat r
phs
4 h cxarxiined onw a the key claims WIUCIL
ot; tw v Ii, r . Jest ihd ttic general theory of stateorgan lied and
deologicahv seen red soci a reproduc ion have tried to show that, in certain
respects, these ela is are d u bi, njs: they prese it an implausible account of
social reproduction (tile Lo!iCIiSUI theory of social reproduction), a partial
account of the nat: and roic olideology (the social cement theory ofideo
logy), and a misleadana accounT of the ways in which the development of mass
al and political life. I have also argued that, in
has afiec tedsot
the writings of some of the authors who have been mostinfluendal in recent
debates such as Ajrhusse, alit1 Puuiaii ins), these shortcomings are combined
with a classreductionist approach to ideology and the stare. Although these
authors avoid a strictly instrumentalIst interpretation of ideologyand the state
as Lois or weapons of the dominant class, emphasizing instead the structured
complexity of the ideological field and the relative autonomy of the state,
nevert-heless their analyses are guided by the assumption that, ultimately,
ideolc.sgy and the state are mechanisms which secure the cohesion and repro
du aion oi a social order based ii c ass exploi radon.
Ideology in Modern &,citn,u 97
In the remainder of this chapter I want to move away &on the two scr of
assumptions which have guided macli recent work on the 411alvs15
ideology in modern societies. I want to turn my attention to o theoretical
approaches which have been less central and icss influential in recent
debates, hut which are of considerable interest in themselves and which seek,
an explicit and innovative way, to rake account of the nature and role or
mass coflhintlrticaflon Ln nmodern societies, These two approac lies arc the
critique of the culture industry as drveloped by Hotkhei,ner and Adorn
and Haberniass early work on the structural cranslorn]arion 1 die pubhc
sphere. Thesc approaches are, of coune, closely l,nked. and both are
generally regarded as variants of the critical theory ufthe Frankfurt SchooL
However, there ate significant differences between the views of die earlwr
generation of critical rheorirn, which included Horkhe:n,er and Adorno,
and the views of later critical theorists such as Habermas. I shall nor attempt
here to explore in detail the similarities and differences ben,.een the views of
these thinkers. Rather, I shall look in turn at those aspects of their work
which bear directly on the issues which concern us in this chapter.
The Critique of the Culture Industry
The writings of the early Frankfurt School theorists offer a distinctive and
onginal account oldie nature and role of ideology in modern societies. this
account is part ofa farreachir. anaiysis of the developmental characterisdc
of modern societies and oi the fate of the individual Lu modern rime3, [ii
examining this account ] shall focus on the work of Florkhcimer and
Adorno. although the work of other individuals associated w,rh the early
Frankfurt School, such as Benjamin, Marcuse. Iowenthal and Kracaucr, is
also of interest in this regard
9 I-Iorkheimer and Adorn 0 gave particular
amienrion to the rise of what they called the cuinire industry, a process
which has resulted in the increasing commodification ol cuirural forms.
Hence, unlike most of the authors associated with the grand narrative of
cujiora) iransfotmation, the early Frankfurt School theonsts stressed the
importance of the development of mass communication and attempted to
rethink the nature and role of ideology in relation to this development. As I
shall try to show, however this account of mass comniunicanon was
strongly influenced by a theme which is also central to the grand narrative.
namely, the theme of rationalization; and this among other things resulted in
an exaggerated view of the cohesive character of modern societies and an
overly pessimistic prognosis concerning the fate of the individLial in the
modern era.
 ideo /{:gy UI Modern Soc Ideology in Alodcrn Sicietic, J)
ilw views oi the early en ti a ri team were hapcd by historical events accumulation and profit realization; they do nor arise spontaneously roil
cvciopo ien rs Lu Europe a i id the u iced Sn tth in the I 92()s, I 930s and the masses rhenuelvec, but rather are tailored for consumption by the
4 Os. 1 he suppress] on of r Au tio;iar up Icaah ii Eu rope at the end of rhe culture industry intentionally integrates its coitsunters (roll abos -
i-Inst orld \Var, the tic veiclpri cnt ot Sra[iirirn in the Soviet Union and the masses are not primary, but secondary, they are an object oicaIcul
IC rise of frascisi ii Ger,nati were itircrpreced by the ccl deal theorists as so don; an appendage of the machinery. The goods produced by the cukurr
ii n SIgL is that the revol ci Ut iuirv pocentLil which Marx had discerned in indurry arc nix determined by their intrinsic characteristics as an artlsrlc
21 odc n socurtle s c rabc ,t hci ri corrramed, tlL arred or deflected form, but by tile corporate logic o 1 conimodiry production and exchac,gc
1 5 -X La Iri si U ical and cxi a psvchoiaicai
Hence the goods are standardized and srere-oryped, merr perniuranns In
- cr.ier u U L N pro est were 1 cd by H,ricInicr and Moo
na basic genres or types the Western, the mystery, the soap. They dicer ..ci Al!
o) :FilgI reniiicn i and Joinr non whose roo of individuality. for example by featuring great personalines and star,, hut
- tracco back OUl U i:bttifl it the I, Lilna,, .pccies irh the this gesture does nothing to mitigate the faa that the goods rllrniselw are
E cde up a ii hei qs ncre ased rh rir masten of nature standardired objects produced for profit and devoid ofartisnc
tea d the nner nature ut bun an subjcccivir and they The producrs of the culture industry are very diffrrent iron; hr
,usrjir;atrJ tb iaiiirji 5%tIILI to thc exercise of rcchrc traditional work ofart. In the eighteenth century and before, the work ,iarr
aid an ci eI w ci c prugressivelv eliminated in
could maintain a certain autonomy from the marketplace, thanks to a wstciii
ascici tic, I nsrrurncil tal rcasOc SQ Inch objecu ties die world from of patronage which shielded the artist from the immediate demands
\. P0 of it, hu icai control. H LII idri beizig chen,se!ves become part survival. This autonomy enabled the work olart to maintain sonic distance
- -t ,bcctuicd orld. and the,r hordina non to tile OCI, oldotninanon Ironi existing reaiirv, to express suffering and contradiction and tbcrcbs
- -.. 2; arlced or d c con ni tIc anon of labour xm-er tinder capitalism. But retain sonic grasp on the idea of the good life. But with the progressic
r._$Its
COl Ipletu sib,c dinanots; it rebels against the preie
commo-Jiticadori of cultural goods. this autonomy is destroyed. Art i
- CCflrCfl2fl. rati;Frtalizatio!; and hurcac,cratiaanon characteristic of the increasingly subsumed to the logic ofcommoditv production and exchange.
<i:.. or-J - hi uai - mritict ual cbcllioII vhicb as taken up and and it therefore loses the critical potential inherent in the very purposeless
- Eac :.t eaders i-nip la a variety o 1 carefully ness of traditional artistic forms. The work of alt by coinpierdy assimilanhlit
- rc-.t 2 tcc I I tap tin repressed a ilcr and aiLacn of the masses
irsLf to netd, deceitfully deprives men ofprecisely clue liberation Ironi ftc
-; ;,CcIcnz -,i;t-Y; rc an onal eeL p n ring hc ni by te thcd awacks on
j
principle of utility which it should inaugurate The conteinplatini and
- srrac ized group and it ansfornung diem rio a new median isni for the enjoyment of a work of art are replaced by the exchange of a comniodi ry
iii nation of the yen mcii viii ias wI, ne q ii isiinsdncri,al rebel lion was the
which is valued prinurily for its exchangeability, rather than for its intrinsic
son tee of he Fascists success. aesthetic characrer. The coup degr&e of the culture industry is thoroughly to
This general account of the loizic ol eiiliglireliliseiii arid domination have commodified art while, at the same time, presenting it to the consumer
pi ovides the hackcioth against which H or U cii icr and Adorno analyse the
as unsaleabir. Thus when a concert by Beethoven is heard on rhr radio or an
narut and consequences of ar cu ru,- ndusrry. Horkbeirner and Adorno opera by Verdi is seen on television, no cash changes hands. But the apparent
use the tern culture industry to er o the coinznoilificarion of cultural absence of exchange is an illusion made possible by a whole series f
orins brough about by the rise of rile ertai ,uuenr industries in Europe commercial transactions which take place outside the act of consuinptioii
iii die United S races in the late nine cc iii nd early twentieth centuries. itself. The consumer is left with the impression ofan unniediated encountri
Among the examples they discuss arc fi in, radio, television popular music, with the work of art, while the culture industry reaps the profits [rot,, a set cs 1.
I
o iagazirces and newspapers.Zi i-Iorkheinirr -and Adomo argue that the rise of of transactions which have taken place behind the consumers back.
the en cerraimuiicut industries as capitalistic enterprises has resulted in rue Most of the products of the culture industry no longer make any
and rationalization at en rural forms, and this process has in pretension to be works of art, however. For the most part they are symbolic
turn atrophied the capacity of the individual to think and act in a critical and constructs which are moulded according to certain preestablished formulae
way. The cultural goods produced by these industries are and impregnated with stereotypical settings, characters and themes. They do
nor challenge or diverge from existing social norms; rather, they reaffirm 54
dcigried and ii aimufaccured in acci ,rdan cc with the ams of capitalist
 ii 1 inn S cries ideoIy iii Alode, eli
Uese ti rms and censure any actions or attitudes that dniace from them. the existing social order by their very desire for the objects produced by it,
The oducts of die
p culture industry present therimelves as a direct reflection and by the pleasure they experience in cotisuming these objects. Befote the
i rept. d ucrio, of ncal reality, and virtue theological caprices of commodities, the consumers hecnznc nanphe ,lac-s.
t
inp by of this pseudorea lism
caru s U, .rid cur rai erincal reflection on the social and Those who sacrifice themselves nowhere else can do so here, and hen rhcv
pei tIi.1er Whit people rcad, see and hear is familiar and are fully betrayed.
The development of the culture industn. and of
2
banal, and into
I piic rr f rrpend e famiLiarity is inwrred sthng consumer culture more generally, has thus brought about the inlcorp.3ratioii
of homespun
slogans ll fi)rcigIicrs are suspect, a pretty girl cali do no rong, suLcess
-
of individuals into a rationalized and reified social totality: in has minted
is
the uluruace attn of life which appear as selfevident and eternal truths.
their imagination, stifled their revolutionary potential and rendered them
Ihe collective autilors of Aspects eJSocwLiy sum up the ideological character vulnerable to manipulation by dictators and demagogues. Those who were
r:he cu i rare ridu, try as lol uws: swept along by the rhetoric of Nazism anti Fascism are those who had
already been crumpled beneath the foorsttps of the culture iiidustn. The
o:nprcss v,mliiii one enreIicc wit-at the ideology of mass were not so much individuals as social atoms who had become increasinely
aih CIIC would have to reprewut this as a
F parv of the dependent on the collectivity, and whose repressed anger and re5isc.Irice
I ii: e unit- that hit Ii thou art: as the exaggerated duplication nd
usii I: a nUn of already cxii ring condi now, and the deprvadon of all could be exploited by leaders who shrewdly employed the very techniques
lraiiscr-t ideiice and all critique. In this limiting of the socially eflcrive spirit to which had produced their dependence. Fascist propaganda needed only to
aain preicliflag to the human activate and reproduce the existing mentality of the masses; it simply cook
kings oniy what it any case already
-u th cctii noa or their
L-- MsicIlct-. bu at he anw nine prI ming people for what they were the children of the culture industry and


::c::c:as [s .wri norm, the oplc are conrined in rhiir employed rhe techniques of this industry to mobilize them behind the
tjh--;aid urc cxiste;tc_e}
iii aggressive and reactionary aims of Fascism?6 Thus the process of enlighten
ment which had sought to conifol the world through the technical
Linlikc ranter fix nc of ideology, whose ideological charac ret consisted in domination of nature. culminated iii a rationalized and reified social tonaliTy
their alleged but illusory independence from social reality, the new ideology in which human beings are not the masters but the servants and vicntns,
o the culture industry lies in the very absence of this independencc The whose consciousness has been fettered by the products of the culture
prod t-,I) the cu cure intl uscry are moulded to fit and reflect a social reallrv industry. Whether human beings are still paNe of cultivating a critical and
cIt r;prciuccd without he need cfan explicit and quasiindependent responsible attitude, are still capable olbecoming autonomous. indcpendeiit
Ut rthca oil .31 CICtCHCC sjnce the Very
process of consuinhlig tile products of individuals who can exercise reasoned judgement. isa quesnoil about which
iii ducts idivduals to identify vith the prevaiLing ociai Horkheimer atid Adorno are at times pessinrnstic. but which ultimately they
I to conrii tie to be as they al ready arc, Jeave as open issue. They do not rule our the possibility tint the processes
In the vision of }lorkheimer and Adorno, the development of the culture of rationalization and reification which have brought about the destrucnon
industry is all intrinsic part of tile process of increasing rationalization and of the individual will be arrested or curtailed in tile future, and that
ruifica n H n modurn sock nes, a process which is rendering individuals less individuaLity will eventually reemerge as an element ofa more humane atici
s ctpthiei idepcndeii thinking and more and more dependent On democratic form of life. But they do not predict this outcome either,
ii in cSSeS over -1uch they have little or no control. Here
the impact of Horkhcmniers and Adonioc analysis of the culture industry represelits
lr-. Webc-r evaJenir Webers iron cage of rationaiizcd, bureaucratized one of the most sustained attempts by social and poLitical theorists to conic
action replaced by the Iron system of the Culture industry, in which no terms with the nature and consequences of mass comnii,nication in
individuals are surrounded by a universe of objects that are essentially modern societies. They are right, in my view, to emphasize the importance
identical jrid rhorcughly contrnodified. Rather than providing a symbolic of mass communicati on and to seek to examine its impact on social and
space vi r inn wlnc ii ii dividuals could cultivate theLr imagination and critical political life, They are also tight, I think, to suggesr that tins process has
.1 (ItVdOp tlicr individ u aim and autonomy, this corn transformed the nature and role ideology
of in modem societies. The mass
nio,lificJ universe uhanticis the energy of individuals into the collective media have become major channels for the circulation a 1 information and
-rt srandidized goods. individuaL arc adapted and adjusted to communication of various kinds, and any attempt to rethink the nature and
 IC;
idetilogy in A1obrr,
1. [ocr n%u ciccin must cake full account ,: ,4in
of this develop central arid parrlcLi Ian y efficaciou
in at LkIC that the analy sis offer ed by Horkl,nmer and s one, tint rids Ic at best a
is ulnrnarcIy and irrdccrnably flawed. k natu re of niass coflI n,un zcan partial view 11 ri
provides a helpful point of on and irs Impa k fzcuses
ct.
.. -
certain aspects of mass our actcnn,n
:t arlilcat h rc-g
acd as a sa nsFacrory basis for examining die coinniunicanon those winch pertain
re] .iti ohs beri cci mass coni n,od ifica rion of sym bolic to the
forms by thy med a niti
I
otninunicarlon and ideo
logy in mod ern socie ties. I within this resth trirs; and
ii V 1 l rc rat 3r1 hree cred focu s aim aiyses the cc
then ies in the writi ngs of rather abstract way. developinrnca; pr it LSSC ii
srres sing gene ral
(2 the
.:
K their laracteriza aoia of the industry;
culture and pseudopersonaiizatjjn features like srand ardiz arioi i, repet cmii
in ou 3 ri attire and role of ideology in mod but nor exanuning iii detai
ern
societies;
and don and everyday pracricts l the socia l orgalaiza
211 g anti otrcn pcsslrm,n
c concept ion of modern socie olnzcdia instiwnons. or
sin ties, and one branch of the media the diffe rences l,etweei
the anjivitloal within them. and another. Mor eove r, in
on these aspects of mass focu sing nor aruiir,oi
conhi]rnnicanon thc approach
Adorno tends to neglect other of Hot
Ad tra ustrhctrrais culture indu equally important characteristic khtcitixer
gUi [era way to cite na Li usa eson cern stry to refer in a I shal argu e that mass coin s. in chap ccr 5
cd with the mum cation involves ceven dii
mass prod uction ofcui rural istics it invo lves the mid ri ncr t-llar ,& tcr
no igh ugh he lct that, in certain tutionalized production
and diffus, on of svrn
-
key respects. these goods; it invo lves an insti bol it
El its C 1KG jikre4;r from
die other sphe tuted break between production
.
res of mass prod uctio n whic h involves the exten sion and reception: it
HI Ut ncr casIng
quantities of :c,nwmer of avail abili ty of symbolic h,rn,
good s. n all case s the good s are and it involves the circulation s iii time and ir space:
nj cc id J s rn ho ted n a rirdance wi rh ratio of these forms in a public
br the purpose o profit reajization; naLi zed proc edur es and of Horkheimer and Adorno domain. The work
in aH cases the sheds light on rue first of
good s them selve but nor on the latter three. rile-se
Jar, ix nj 4 (crc, ,r ped. cverr if they
-
arc given a tinge
s are Their approach is so strongly characrensncs
qu ofin dind uality traditional themes of rationaliz shaped by the
0! a brand ii am c, die
personality of a st-ar

ation, con,modjf,catio,,
ilcrtasc- ti ci r a ppca in l cases In order to they fail to dojusrice to what arid reification that
the recipients arc regarded as itric more s new and distincth abou
mass coin niun icatj o,j, t the dcveiopircit of
[[II c timers whose ceds and desires can, with sui table means, and therewith the mediazation
he run npu aced, scm iuiared and Hork heim er anti Ado rno of modern culture,
controlled, l-forkheimer and Adorno seek to apply to mass comnrullicano
deve lopm ent whic h ha, n a logc of
U ir ii ns also have spec
ial features, in so far as they oftr alrea dy invaded ocher spheres ut
:n.ac .:itJ ci reciitarlo:ts s hick hay but in so doin g they negl moth-rn society,
or may ect those characteristics of mass
not be a source of reflection, which are disti nctiv e coull,Iiunicanoi
I bj ri 1 idcii Oji Ca tjon Or a schema of Ince and unpr eced ented , and which
rpreraflotl [ shall com e back of mass conflnunjcatjc,n with endo w the immstirunoins
ass [CS raised by these spec fean a unique and Janusfaced
ial ires. But first I want to sodeties. role in niodcrn
Icier ether his ge. eral approach to the
culrn re indu stry is a satis
ran at iii) h cli to dual yse the insuw r,ons id char
acter 2 The second theme
.-.oII;uns u:atilcanc,n
.
I want to examine concerns
Adornos account of the Horkhcjirwrs and
II we bc.ir ii ni nd die diversiry and con nature and role ci ideology
iplexicy of the fortn of mass Although Horkheimcr and Ado in niodern socIeties.
lCd ho [ .ich have emer ged since the rno do jot oile, a susta,ned
sixteenth century, the broad concept of ideology (the mos discussion of tue
wit i cia I 511411 titline ml a lacer chap t extensive analysis is to he
ter, I think we can see that the colla bora tive volume prep ouiid in dw
era ipp coac ii adopted by t cnrkbcim ared by the Institute .4spe cts
ir and AtlurTlo is too hunt ed. Thei r the tern, Frequently in of Sonc Icy) they use
n ti-rn ned largeI by their tcenipt to their writings and they clear ly
tie rethcr the theme
of way. Here Edo not want to exam emp loy it in a crirical
al otial iza non, adapted ine their varied uses
flu in Weber, with the themes of coinmodificarion focus instead on the transforil of the term, but vant to
1 rrih ari a
at raken USer tiuni Marx
and Lukcs. and to situate these utiog of the nature and tole
is associated, in their view, of ideobgy which
c-s wi ci in an . era S-i non of history with the development of the
which emphasizes the increasing Previous ideologies often existed cultu re indu stry.
I
en a c-i rn-i t III ama i hei rigs in in the form of distinct
die wels of doTniliation which they and claimed some Independence doct rines vJ:,c h
IC: r r-dc,c, S.
an wi to ,iL spun. The from the social reality chat
y Ihritis and institutions olnuss justify. This alleged iitdepetid they soug ht to
ci I ,Iui fical loll are hoc another stran ence was both the source
d of this everexpanding web, albeit a (because the alleged independ of their t]nh lIith
ence was more apparent than
real) 40d the
I
 nt in Modern .Scietie IdeaIgy in Mirri c1 ;c 5
tasis for oIisc exercise clthe critical spirir( ecause ideologies did not merely an imitative and confori,ting way, or to act in a sav whitli scrvrs ii zmctJ
,elecr what exists but went beyond it, projecting possibilities or ideals which to bind them to he social order and to reproduce the status quo. The social
did no! exist in fact). With the develo pment of the culture industr cement theory of ideology assumes that what looks like cement will ork
y,
however, the pretension to indepe ndence is destroyed. The culture industr like cement, and yet it is well known 1 we can press the metaphor a little
y
Co a new t,rm of ideology which no longer claims to be further that some niawrials do not respond to cement.

irJcpendenr o sacial reality: r4rher. it presents itself as part oJsccial This raise, a general methodological problem to which I shall return r a
reliq. It
Brunancut rht products of the cuizure industry, in so far as these later chapter. The problem is that Rcrkheimer and Adorno T> tu tead oti
pt-oduccs are moulded for the entertainmen and t gratific ation of individ the consequences of cultural products horn the products themselves.! shall
uals
who, in consuming these products, reproduce the social reality which describe this endeavour as the fr/lacy inlernalism.
the of It is a fallacy because
roduct so faichfully reflect. Ideology today is nor so much clearly cannot be assumed that the charac teristic which
a s the analyst discerns II a
artcu1itcj doctrine which stands above rite particular culnital product will have a given effect when that produc
social world and oversh adows it, t
hr -win irs inst mrion into stark relicf rather, it is chat charac teristic of received and appropriated by individuals in the course ot their everyday
nass.pwduced cukurai objects which turns them into a kind of lives. The reception and appropriation of cultural products rs a compiex
social
cemenr By becoming purely objects of exchange and sources of pleasure, social process which involves an ongoing activity of interpretation and the
i.ltvoid of any c,idcal. transcending quality, the produc ts of the assimilation of neaning&al content to the socially structured background
culture
udustrv aquire an ideological role which is both more pervasive characteristics ofpardcular individuals and groups. To attempt to read eu
than
us ideoiugies and more ob,cure. Ar every level of society and in the the consequences of cultural products [ruin the products themselves is to
ery act oI piea.tirable consumpnon, the products of the culture industr neglect these ongoing actinties of interpretation and assimilanon; ii is to
y
hind individuals to the social order which oppresses them, providing the
ociaI cement which renders modern societies increasingly rigid uniform I speculate about the impact of these products on the attitudes and behaviour
of individuals without examining this impact in a systematic Way Of course,
d unsliake-ahitu
1 Horkheinier and Adorno are aware that their analyses arc cilten of a
H-srki ieiinet arid Morno arc right, in my opinio n, to argue that the speculative, tentative kind. In his content analysis of the astrology column 01
.frveLDplnenc 01 nIas5 commu nicatio n has the Los Angela Times, /dorno remarks chat our results most by ilecessit. be
had a fundam ental impart on the
nature of culture and ideology in moder n societies. They are also right to regarded as tentative, They provide us with formulations, the validity of
maintain that the analysis of ideology can no longer be limited to which can and should only be established by reader researchSl This
the study
f political doctrines but must be broadened to take accoulit of the diverse qualification is indisputable. The problem, however, is that the
smbolic lorins which circulate in the social world. But it must also be said reader research never took place, and that this and other analyses ofcultutal
ch there arc edous shortcomings to their account of the new form products have, in practice. stood on their own as accounts olhow a new form
of
z]eologv engendered by the cul lure industry. 1-lere I shall restrict myself to of ideology, engendered by the culture industry, has induced obedient and
two main criticisms. The first criticism is chat it is by no means clear that the conformative behaviour, strengthened the sense of fatality and dependence,
reception arid cousumprwn of the products of the culture industry have the dulled the imagination and atrophied the critical spirit of the masses, and
conseq uences that Horkli eimer and Adorn o suggest. That is, it is by no
thereby served to reproduce the status quo.
icarm char that, by receiving and consum ing these produc ts. individ uals are My second criticism of Florltheimers and Adornos account oi the new
nnpellcd to adhere to the social order, to identiFy with the images projected form of ideology is that this account presents an overly restrictive view of the
and to accept uncritically the prover bial wisdom that is meted out. This ways in which ideology operates in modern societies. I have described this
niricism is similar to that which I have levelled at more recent versions of view as the soda1 cement theory of ideology, since ideology is regarded
the cclal ement theory of ideology. Here, as in more recent versions, the primarily as a kind olsyrubolic substance whkh circulates in the social world
social cement dicory takes too much for granted- It is one thing to show char and binds individuals to the social order, so char the latter is rendeted
Uc products of risc t olnne industry are charac increasingly rigid and resistant to social change. Ic may be the case that sonic
terized by standardized
&;r,,iats, pseudo realism and so on; it is quite another to sl,ow that. in symbolic forms in modern societies do play this role, but it would be
receiving and consuming these products, individuals are impelled to act in unnecessarily restrictive to regard this rolc as the only or even the primary
a
 Oo JdeoIcy rn Al odcrn Societies
IdeoloRy in Modern .ocici:L 07
in whx h tdeology operates in nodern
V a
socIeties. If we conceptualiz e Ruthlessly. n despite of i self, the Enlightenuitenm has extinguish cd a s trace
tcEItb cf the wav in vJiich Eneallitig scn-es to
establish and 01 its own consciousness. ks the pursuit of scientific
-
ca c doll rano md we artenipt to distinguish different knowledge ke21n1
Jc fl oprt1ori. as I d,d in the previous cluptcr, then we can see char the coupled with the expansion of bourgeois coniniodin, production. liuina:,
beins were increasingly turned into the appeiidages of a niachicic winch
U L-.ry highiihrs 0th) some of the ways in which Ldeclogy
grinds on rrleiItlessy. Like the oarsmen in the myth of Odysseus. tIIeIr ears
ria operate. ft highlights some of the ways in which symbolic forms may
have been plugged so char they can no longer hear the beauty of thu Sirens
secure the umficadon and reification of social relations but it neglects the
song deaf and dumb, they concentrate on the task which confronts them in
ic des of egit ii nad on, di simuladoE and fragmentatio
i n. Ideology is nor the the division of labour, ignoring whatever lies to one side. Eiilightenixient has
fact-or n ] I ed it, chc repaid ucrion of relations of domination, and
become the wholesale deception of the masses, whose critical sensibilities
a cc nJ re: dca nou re tot the univ niodcc involved in the operation
bave become so atrophied that thrir capacity to resist, to overrbrcn the yoke
hi pOrtravir, the new lbmi of ideology as a kind of social
-
of domination and achieve some recotIciliafloli with alt alienated larurt.
Horkiir,xn-:r an! Adomo otter an os-en> resnicred view of the wa
must remain in doubt
ii dcoi. gy opcr.t rs, view which is linked to their totahzing and There are some characteristics olinodern societies which might appear to
ciii pessimisuc colicept oil Of modern societies arid the tire of individuals lend plausibility to the sweeping historical perspective sketched by
wi thin them.
Horkheimer and Adorno. The growing bureaucratization ufmany docuams
of social life, the persistence of relations of domination and inequality in
bird thei cc I want to address L oncerns this conception of modern modern capitalist societies as well as rn those societies wl,ich claim {or l3ave
I and rue itia red odon ci the a trophy ai the indiv,du. claimed) to be socialist in sonic sense, the increasing significance -at
Hrkhcilxier and Adorico project an image of modern societies as increas ecological Issues and the heigheued awareness of the dangers of the
ing mw-graced
.
and unified, as propelled along a path of development uncontroLled exploitation of nature: these and other charactetisrics on nod
if ci s c to coiiflflue uninterrupted , would lead to a wholly an societies might be regarded as developments which are consistent with
r-anunahzed, reified and administered world. The processes of radonaliza the genera] trend discerned by Florkheuner and kdorno. ut this
non comnodificadon and reification have fused together to produce an incerpretanon would be a generous one and would overlook the serious
aim ot inexox able trend, While the nLechanlsrns ofcapitalisr production and limitations ol their approach. Here I shall highlight two such limitations. In
vKLiIaIge are .nc intrinsic aspect of this development
and have accelerated the the first place, Horkheimer and &dorno overemphasize the nregrated and
pro rss uuIIIiio-iitlc,sIlou and reification, the trend discerned by unied character of n,odern societies. The image they project is that of a
klorkiieinwr and Adorno has a generalirv which goes beyond the specific society in which every clement is ncreasinglv tailored to fit into the whole.
i nalDil:; of ca
iftalsni it is parr oi a general process of rationaLization char
1 in which every aspect has its place. and in which any form of deviance or
was set in motion well befr,re the L-apitalist mode
of production had fully incipient criticism is either normalized or excluded, It is a Kafkaesque image
taken hold in the West. This general process of rationalization involves the of instrumental reason gone wild; the individual is increasingly locked
incteasing subordination ofnamre both external and inner nature to the
-
within a world of total administration. But this image is surely exaggerated.
of lizzical conr!fll: it is a deeprooted human project, a quasi While it is certainly true that modern societies are interconnected iii ri-any
nil opcAcit iL human adventure. n which human benigs In pursuing the ways md a many levels both nationally and internationally, it is also tilt case
alry deais or knowledge sod truth, find themselves
ensnared in an ever that a great deal of diversity. disorganization. dissensus and resistance exists.
e\pnJmg web oi dunmi,ation. Indeed, the very ideals they had set and is likely to continue tn exist, vArhin modern socienes. How cat Id we
bc niselves crc irca
4 tainted by the logic of domination. The great explain the groundswell olpopular rebellion in Eastern ELirope in I VH9, and
hnlg[ireirnenr thinkers who called for the pursuit of positive science as a the speed with which he political regimes collapsed, ii modern societies
way ohreeiug human beings from the burden oltradition and myth were, in were really as integrated and unified as Horkheimer and Adorno suggest?
spice oftheir hefty ideals, propelling humanity into a new and more extensive Faced as they were with the persistence ofa social order which satisfies sonic
roof domi tanon. For what mel want to learn &om nature is how to use people but fulfils very few, Horkhcirner and kdorno were inchined to
dcr 1 ic to Junii flare it a,jd other men. That is the
lu
y aima
1
on conclude, erroneously and prematurely I think, that the sources of social
.1
 J.vilo-y Siodesn ,Socieries
Ideology in Modern Societies I
UaVc bee,a brought id rr control anJ tInt all voices of serious rural products. in approp riating them and integra ting them nit, the sot al
contexts and interpretative frameworks of tlic recipienrsThese processes
he ccond mitation concer ns Horkji ate
eirncr s and Adorn os account of more varied and compl ex than Horkh eimer and
mc tied of he individual. In previous Adorn o allow, It is likely
societi es the idea of individuality that stereotypical images and repetit ive pattern
ic a uu:ph aa:ig thc poiitaiicI sutono

s in cultura l produc ts eo,irti-
niy and uniquens of the butt to some extent to the sociali zation of individ uals and the fornian
an hc:nc nad bc-en nurtured iv philoso or, of
--
phical and religious thought. their idcnury. But it is also Likely that individ uals are
Univ been ery parnally realized never corripl eteiv
in practice. The idea of moulded by these and other processes of sociali zation, and that
individuality was sustain ed as they are able
an unfulfi lled promise of philosophical to nuintain at least sonic distance, intellectually and emotionally.
OUgI it ii die DinderTi era, however, with from the
the rrse of largescale industr ial symbolic forms that are constructed of them, for them
San.; an a thu spread of I lass cu I wre.
and around them.
individuals have becom e Even children, it seems, have a shrewd sense of fact and fantasy. of hat
i, n-as] k jhorbd n a social totality which niak is
no conces sions to the real, unreal and utterly silly in the television cartoons which occupy so ninth
tr.Ji n al dc;a of n divid uliry. Individ uals becom e more and more of their dn,e, and in watchi ng these cartoon s they are engage d in complex
th pende a on econorrxlc -arid social forces which a
lie beyond their control. process of interpretation? To assume, as Florkhein,er and Adom
flirv I tice dLCnlselves o the huge crgzad o do, that
-
ons upon wch they the reception and consumption olculn iral produc ts are
no tor thnrver surrvaL Tlic lose the capacity for but tails in the cof
critical thinbog fin of the individual, who is more or less doome d to an uncere monIo
:1 L fligic or an a reman us
- .
4 order. They berome so
soci burial by the deveopmental tendencies of modern societies, is
thoroughly integrated into die existing order that to over
their sponta neity, estimate the extent to which individuality has been crushe d
atitononv incl uniqueness are repressed or virtual by the culture
ly elimin ated. The industry (among other things) and to over_sirnpli& the processes involv
arIz e industry conthbure to this ed in
inrwad on by reaf the reception and appropriation of the products of these industries.
cf tiaug order and by furnish
ing popular icons which enable
2 i.Iss to experience vicario the
usly residue s of an in&vid uality which
in pracuc e they are denied. Moder n has becom The Transformation of the Public Sphere
society e a vast and well
Lcd n hine in WhL C h individuals are little more than
functional parts.
01,1 ques u inch rr,naiils open fdr Horkh ei,iier and I now wish to consider, in
iic ther
Adorn o is this final section of the chapte r, sonIc of the
rcpresrd desires and longgs of huirian bein, the redue wrtngs of the most influential contem
Car iiUrNaiuti which sniould
of porary expone nt of critical ociai
ers beneat h the surface of society , can be theory,Jiirgcn 1-labermas. While 1-laber rnas
released in a constructive and progressive way. has been strongl y influen ced by
or whethe r the frustrations the views of the earlier critical theorists, he never takes Li uncriti
engendered by aix aborted nidividualitv will be expLoited cally the
by reathonary ideas of his intellectual progentors even when the inueic e ofHork
torc cs a, id deinigogues hcimer
Adorno or Marcuse is clear Habermas typically recasts their views
-in ficuitv wttL ous account is hat r greatly in a new
- i
over estima tes the framework and gives then, a new sense, Haberm ass early work
cxii: H to whw hid, ciduals have beer, successfully integrated into on the
the structural transfo rmatio n of the public sphere takes up some of
existing social order. the themes
}usr as Horkh eirner and Adorn o project an overly of the critique of the culture industry, but reworks these themes in
:rscntiai niage ut ijodern socetin, so rt they a new and
project an overly hue insighthil way. Paying greater atit,,no n to the develo pment o1 media
eracd ca: lc:eprioi of the moat-F individ ual. It is by no institutions from the seventeenth century to the present day. Haberm
ii means clear that all or zs
-u rm,sr mdi t-iduals in moder n industr ial socieu es retraces the emergence and subsequent disintegration of what he calls the
are neatly integta red
mi the social order, their ntellec rual faculti es so severe ly sn,nrcd chat they public 3 sphere. As a realm of communication and debate that was

are no longer capable of critical. indepe ndent though stimulated by the emergence of mass communication in the form ok a
t. Moreover, the
asunpnoi. thai the rcccption and consum ption of cultura relatively smallscale and independent press, the bourgeois public sphere
l products serves
ocr ] v to r force cordciern r to the status quo, to liquida created a forum in which the authority of the sure could be criticized and
te what is already
an Actopliied indixidualiry, is too simple. This assum called upon rojusiil itself before an informed and reasoning public. But this
ption rests on the fallacy
of uterna isna and it oversimplifies the processes involv was a resthcted and fragile forum and it was effectively undercut by the
ed in receiving cuL
 idecigy it, Atofr-n ci,-irrS i
dcv ri proc it of the ta ic a id of non-state social insrimrions in the significant and unprecedented: it was the public use ofreason, as articulated
iii net and iweucieth cn turks, The growrh of the stare and of large by private individuals engaged in argument that is in pnrclple open and
scak counnercial organizations in the domain of mass communication have unconstrained. This unique constellation of publicprivate relations, as it
transft>rined the emerging public sphere in a fundamental way, so that the emerged in early modern Europe, is summari,ed in Table 2.1.
critical potential inherent in this sphere ha been curtailed or pushed
underground arid retains its value today more as a promise, as an imminent Table I I
pri ipl a cnricism, ha us an institutionali zed real ry. the social cnntexr oldie bourgeois
ii fl in wan to exalilirie Haber,,,as argumr in mc derail. public sphere
In
diaii be conceiitrznng primarily on Habermass early work, and
an the aigunieiirs devcloped in ilw Swucrural Transfrrmari on oJrhe &IjT40n Red/rn 4)u4bfl
Fob/i SpIne These stguillerln, while crucial Private real,, pub/k iphere
for understandin g
bole recent *ritHigs. have not yet received the attention
they Civil society Public iphere iii
dv w,i I EughshswaLj ng torld 2 Uu t more iniporrandy, my reason
tran ng on Fl, bet mass Ca [l work is that it repren one of the ( do maIl! 1 political real
conunod my
ev svu-nanc attempts to develop an historically informed social theory of pioducnon and
mass con ii nunicatiori, and to rethink die nature and roie ofideology within exchange
this Iran.cwork. iii this respect, Habermass early work offers something that
is missing from his more recent writings. For the latter become increasingly Intimate sphere Public sphere in Court
conjugsl family) literary realm
prcoccup!rd with problenis of social rationalization; the development of
mass Lull It Alunicarion is as from view, while a particular version of the Source: Ad a p red Ii abc rm a,. Th I
grand
c,tnt uto fl 0(1 cml .9
aT ntive of u tural transiormatioik assu roes an increasingLy Publ, Sprt p. 30.
pt AIb: icId rc,l ir;afl Comment layer on this shift in Habern,ass work.
in i*c rreiicrf i}irformario., ofrhe.ibik Sphere Habernus observes that,
ainuog thu publicprivate distinction dates from Classical Greece, it The bourgeois public sphere developed initially in the realm ofliteramre,
assumed .i IrA and distincnvc form in seventeenth and eighteenthcentury and was subse
ucntly transformed into a public sphere bearing directly on
9
htpU. ii tie context ofa rapidly developing capitalist economy and the political issues, In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the
cscapl, kent a bourgeois constitutional state- Public authority in the salons and coffee houses of Paris and bndon became cences of discussion
lIar, OW Sri Sc came to refer licreasingly to staterelated activity, that is, to the and debate; they were the principal ocales in which pnvare i,ldiv1L1uas
actIvities of a stare System which had legally defloed spheres ofjurisdiction could meet to discuss literary matters and, increasingly, issues of general
and vJiich had a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence. Civil society concern. These discussions were facilitated by the development of the
emerged as a domain of privatized economic relations which were newspaper industry. Whereas the early news sheets and newspapers were
established under the aegis of public authority. The private realm thus concerned primarily with the transmission of information of various kinds,
comprtscd both the expanding domain of economic relations, and the in the course of the eighteenth century they became increasingly orientated
Intimate sphere ofpcrsoiral reLations which became increasingly disengaged towards the expression of political views. The press becartw a key forum of
from :,,i,aiiiic activity and anchored in the institution of the conjugal criricai political debate, offering an ongoing coimnentary on. and criticism
faiixl icr i: the realm ok public authorin-, on the one hand, and the
-
oE the actions of officials of the state. This devdopmcnt was particularly
rr:inl :1 cisui swicrv and the intimate sphere. on the other, there prominent in Britain, where the press enjoyed greater liberdes than in sonic
CiriVr4eJ a r!CL sphet e ni tin public: a bourgeois public sphere which other parts of Europe. In France and Germany, the press was periodically
or private tndivdus who had come together to debate among subjected to stringent censorship and control by state officials, and it was
ci and with state authorities concerning the reeuladon
ot civil
only with the development of the constitutional state that some devree of
rv an1 rIte -:,nducr of die stare. The medium or this confrontation was freedom of the press. as well as other features and functions of the publmc
.1.
 2 ldeoky in Modern StiiL1IeS
sphcrr freedom ofopirtion aixd speech. heedom otassemhly and associaflon,
Larma ii ecu bodcd I p. ia.
the bourgeois public sphere as in pr:nc:ie open to all private
uan tiUdl. It WJ in -rasite restricted to a limited stcrion of the population.
i cive ii t-n.& o .i mission crc property and education the public
splicr::- comprised, in pracncc. the bourgeois reading public of the eighteenth
<xnrury. Tise two eflccive criteria of adnilssion tended to ci,cumscribe the
saau &noup of individuals, br education was largely determined by ones
tie went to p ropcrtv. 1 lie class bia, inherent in the actual constitution of
b Jnszcon pubic spiw:e was perceieJ and criticized by Marx fix
nsta i.e. 1 his : arm g arratk on the socalled rihu frnan in On tiieJewbh
But I sonte pcczs of the bourgeois public sphere were a veiled
and dii igen ii u expressii ii of class Sn (crests, nevertheless it embodied.
argun 1-lahernias, ideas and principlrs that went beyond the restricted
his maca! lorms in which it was realized. It embodied rite idea that a
corn] unity of {Z]2I2S, ccrning togerlicr as equals in a &ru iii which is d is
n r Cr0111 l:c public aLl thon f the stare and the prvare realms of
:1 5: il-P ai:d ann iSle, was capabe of forming a pbi;c opinion through
crr cai i ,cwni i: reasoned argunien r and drbare. It em bodied what
Ina dcscnibeg a a principle of publicuess or publtcitv (Pninzip in
Ofter;thr hkeis): iia iely, that the personal opinions of private individual
could evolve into a public- opinion through the rationalcritical debate ofa
public olcirizen which was open to all and free from domination,
If die ideas and principles embodied in the bourgeois public sphere were
re 1ed in the proptdous historical conditions o 1 eighteenth
iss En rope. then they were au but eclipsed by the subsequent
devJopn lent ci riicr ace and of other stjal organizations. The emergent
public sphere was pi ogresi ely queeLrd by, on the one hand, the expansion
of ap interventionist state which increasingly assumed a wide range of
welfare functions and, on the other, the massive growth of industrial
organizations which increasingly assumed a semipublic character. These
parallel deveLopmen ts gave rise to a repoliticized social sphere in which
:r;w:ztd fltei-est troups snuggle 1 or a larger share of available resources, in
a a tins large 1 v eliminates the role for ongoing public debate among
a::1u1viduaIs. Ar the saint time, the inintunotis which once provided a
logo is for the h-u rgcois pu Ni c sphere either died our or underwent radical
rtansfinniation. The salcms and coffee houses gradually declined in
significance, and the institutions of triass communication developed
increasingly into largescale coninwrcial organIzaflons. The commerciatiza
ra in fuss C, rii nunicanon akerccj is character tn a Fundamental wav
ins a Onc pnivzrgcd thrum of ranonalcrincal debate became just
-i.
Jdeoioy in Moth-rn Socwtic A
another domain ofculrural consumption, and the emergent public sphere
collapsed into a shan world ofpwudoprivacv diat is fathiond and c,tro
led by the cuirure industry. As Habermas remarks,
When the aws of the niarket governing the sphere CU] iiTinilry cxca, ge
and of social abor also pervaded the i.phere teservrd for private people a a
public, rational-critical debate had a tendency to be replaced by consumption,
and the web of public communication unraveled into acts of individuared
receptIon, however unii.rm in mode.
The commercialization ot mass communication progressively dcsrrovcd its
character as a medium ot the public sphere. for the content of newspapers
and other products was depolinrized, personalized and sensationalized as a
means ofincreasing sales, and recipients were treated mnorc and more s the
consumers both of media products and of those products from which the
media organizations derived their advertising revenue.
In addition to the coriarnercializarion of mass comnainicaciun. new
techniques of opinion rnanagcnrnr crc developed and increasingly
employed in those areas olmass communication which sdhl bore directly on
political issues. These techniques address individuals as private citizens
rarher than consumers and they exploit the dea of a public of private
individuals using their reason, but hey turn ills idea to their own ends,
Beneath the veil ofan alleged public interest, the opinionmoulding services
promoted the particular aims of organized interest groups. The residues of
the bourgeois public sphere have thus taken on a quasiFeudal character: new
techniques are employed to endow public authority with the kind olaura
and personal prestige which was once bestowed by the staged publicity otthe
- Feudal courts. This rt4ud.mlizathrn ofrhc public sphere turns the latter into a
theatre and turns politics into a managed show ,n which eaders and p3rdes
routinely seek the acdansarory assent of a depo]idcized population. Once a
critical principle employed by private individuals against the established
power ofpublic authority, publicity has been n-ansfornied into a principle of
managed integration (wielded by sraginz agencies the administration.
special-interest groups. and above all the parties).
5 The mass of the
population has become a managed resource which is effectively excluded
from public discussion and decision-making processes, and froiii which
leaders and parries occasionally seek to elicit, with the aid of media
techniques, sufficient assent to legitimate their political programmes and
co i promises,
Although duc developments of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
have undermined the bourgeois public sphere and rransforn,ed the principle
 4 Lkoijy in Modern Societies
blic irv into tool of vested in tecests, Habernias does nor rule our the
possibihe that the ideas and principles originally embodied in the public
t1crc ouId he ec-znsnruted on different basis in the fumse. In Tire
f.-i.ce,aj; tie t%bi Sphere his remarks on this subject are
rgidn:arv and ailuive at best. but the general line of argument is fairly
Lridrc r;dave conditions, a public sphere could be reconstimted only
1 fltirriiirrg dial implementing a crincal principle of publicity within the
and interest groups (including political parties) which have
,-tmc to assume a inaor role in the social domain; (2) restricting and
ucratic decision-making processes of the stare; and (3)
the bnre
4 culture and its impact on instinirionalized politics cannot. I chink, be
n-iaL:vlzir;g ruccuta conflicts -u 1 ilirernc according to the standard of a
ulcelcst ever;onc can acknowiedg&} The critical principle of
cbicin chiLl unergcd with die bourgeois public sphere has not been
]to eriIur eliminated rotn contemporary political consciousness; it
co,ioIiueu cc, animate some opposirion to the transformed and deformed ver
scr of publicscv which is little more than a theatrical display for the
purposes of acclamation, Like the idea of democracy with which it was in
omc ways linked, the critical principle a 1 publicity retains its value as a
yanhnck by which the shortcomings of existing institutional arrangements
ai be critically assessed and the possibilities fr a more rational social order
be imaginatively explored.
This thoughrfhl and wideranging argument concerning the formation
and disintegration of the bourgeois public sphere raises many issues which
email relevant to contemporary social and political analysis. Although The
Sricnnal TrarujrniaUon of the Public Sphere is one of Haberniass earliest
ks and has, in certain respects, been supplemented and displaced by the
subsoquent development of his views, it is clear that the idea of a public
piiCre, as a community of individuals who are united by their participation
ranoxrdcnncal debate remains a guiding thread a his work- Moreover,
this eari study brings to the fore, in way char is largely absent from
daheurnass subsequent writings and from most ocher contributions to
iirteriiporar somai and political thought, the role o 1 mass communication
a ornlaflve factor in the development of modern societies. Ic is primarily
d.s apuct the study that I wsn, to focus on here- I want to argue that,
hde Habcrtuas is right to emphasize rhe rnporrance of mass communica
hilt, his account of die disintegrative consequences of the development of
ni-&a ixisritu cions is onesided a id over> negative. I shall elaborate this
1 aspect of politics in the era olmacs communicationnamely, the cultivation
cguniciic by considering four main poincs: (fl the notion of rhe refeudaliza
ut die public sphere; (2) the concepnon of recipients as consumers; (3)
Habcr,iiass account of the new ideology: and (4) the contemporary relevance
he idea o 1 the ,ublic sphere.
Ideology in Modern Svcicne I I
I The commercialization of media irisriru dons and the the c, 1 1 tLa -
commercial techniques in the presentation oipolitical issues has, I
argues, undermined the bvurgeois public sphere asid replaced with au
arena which is quasifeudal in cluracrer. As with the feudal courts ot thu
ancien rgime. modern poiitics has become a managed show in which leaders
and parties seek to secure, at regular intervals, the acclaniatorv assent of a
depoliticized populathni. There is ma doub. some truth in the suggestion
that politics today has increasingl become a marrer of staging. ofculcivatiiig
images and controlling their diffusion; but the mediazarion of modern
satisfactorily interpreted as a refeudalizarion oldie public sphere. The devel
opment of mass communication has created new opportunities for the prt
ducrion and diffusion oFimage5 and messages, opporrunities which existoi; A
scale and are executed in a manner that precludes any serious comparison
wub the theatrical practices of feudal courts. By virtue ofthe technical media
of,ransmission, images and messages are made available to audiences which
are greatly extended in time and space; unlike courtly behaviour, which was
largely orientated towards individuals who shared the same immediate iii]
ieu, the images and utterances of mediated messages are especially with the
development of television receivable and perceivable by large numbers of
individuals who are spatially and temporally dispersed. This new situation
endows time communicator with unprecedented opportunities for reaching
and influencing a large number of individuals. But it should also be empha
sized that this situation greatly increases the visibility of political leaders, anti
limits the extent to which they can control the conditions of reception of
messages and the ways in which these messages are interpreted by rccipiencs.
Moreover, since the development of mass con,munkarion in the nineteenth
and ewenrieth centuries has been accompanied by processes ofdemocranza
don in many countries, the individuals who receive mediated messages have
acquired new forms of power and a new awareness of rights. Hence chc
development of mass comniunicarion has not only created new stages ior the
carefully managed presentation of leadets and their views: it has also given
these leaden a new visihiiity and vulnerability before audiences which rc
more extensive and endowed with more information and more power (how
ever inrermitrently expressed) than ever before. To interpret this sceimario ac
a refeudalizaflon of the puh!ic sphere is to focus on a relatively superficial
of image and the preoccupation with showypresencation and to neglect time
fundamental changes in terns of information availabilirv and political
powerwhich have both accompanied rhedevelopmenm of mass comniunica
don and been facilitated by it.
 N rn ks
A ui and relate
1 sjiortcoTnI g ofHabernis account is that it tends to
cipients o media nicsges as passive coiumers who arc
iii,raflc-d by thie spet tacic, manipulated by clever techniques and numbed
Co icquiescent acccp[aIltc oi the status quo. The active panicipation of
ratijnaiLIflcai debate has been replaced by the pivc
-. 1st,n1iCafl ullages and ciinsages. and iridividuak are subjected to, and
w.ayed by, an array of techniques which are employed to fabricate opinion
nd cunserIsus without participation and debite. Here again, this argument
las some plausibility; it is certat ly true that an array of techniques, some
[orrowed frwn advertising, are used to cultivate the images and promote the
ideas of political leaders and parties. But this argument can be easily
cvCrStatecl. In is all too easily assumed that, because individuals have been
neared as die passive consumers of images and ideas, they have become
passive onsumers chat a, riley have become a dcpolidcized mass which is
cItccti ely moulded and naziipulated by the media and other organization&
SO ZU prio n. hich o cv dent in Habcrniass account, is dubious. It
the in oi inrrrnaluzri: it uu,ustitably infers, on the sis of the
pr..Iu. r aid characrcricncs of a particular cultural product, char this
prducr sill hac a given effect when it is received by individuals in the
curse 31 then everyday 1ves Jr exaggerates the passvity of individuals and
cxte,iz to vhich they are orientated towards, and swayed by. the
nprin: 1 mcd a nnesage. There is little jusriLicadon for this aspect ol
1abcrTias cc;unr. Moreover, by tang for granted the polidl efficyof
flht-tipa messages. I aben,,iass argument rends to overlook the new kind 0
!chy which polinca processes acquire in the era of mass conmiunicadon.
- I shall argue in more derail later, it is because political processes take place
oday in a .social environment which is informationrich that is, in which
individuals have greate access than ever before to information and
communication transmitted via technical media that political leaders and
itate officials seek incrcasingly to control, and are rendered increasingly
vulnerable by their inability completely to control, the diffusion of the
ruages and inf&marion upon which the exercise oF their power in parc
dc:pefldS
1: tarin2thcrec pienrs of media messages passive consumers who are
in ailed b-v the spec tate and manipulated by media techniques. Habermas
re tiic perspective adopted b> Horkheimer and adomo in their critical
ii the cuirure iiiduscn. Haberinas also shares their perception of the
nw ieoic-g to which the development of mass communication has
aLcc.LI gi en i-he and this, I shall argue. is a third shoncoming of
lidbcrIlia accouiir- Actoiding to this new, ideology no Longer takes the
5I J Oiie? if SLC
form of a coherent system of discrete ideas or beliefs. like rite nid pontn:a.
ideologies nirhe nineteenth century, burrather is inherent ii tiic- products os
the media industries in so far as these products replicate the status quo and
integrate individuals into it, eliminating any element of transcendence and
critique The media industries engender a tise consciousness arid a raise
consensus, Intelligent criticism ofpuhlicly discussed affairs gives way bc&re
a mood olconformity with publicly presented persons or perconilicatrons;
consent coincides with good vii) evoked by publicity.
7 To the extent that a
consensus prevails in modern sorienes, it is a false and fabricated consensus,
for it is more the effect of the opinionmoulding techniques employed by
the media industries than the outcome of processes of argumentation and
deliberation among citizens employing their critical faculties.
This account of the new ideology engendered by the iiedia industries
suffers From weaknesses similar to those that vitiate the writings of
Horkheimer and Adomo. Ideology is viewed essentially as a kind ofsocaal
cement which circulates in the social world via the products of the india
industhes, and which integrates and incorporates individuals Into rite sucia
order, thereby reproducing the status quo. This account, like that of
Horkheimer and Adorno, presents an overty restricnvc conception of
ideology and ofits mode of operation In modern societies Lnkc Horkheinier
and Adorno. Habermas offers an account of the nfl ideology which
overemphasizes the extent to which cultural products are capable of and
have succeeded in. integrating individuals into a social order which h
f supposedly reproduced thereby. But Habermass account raises additional
probienis, in so far as he employs terms such as false consciousness and false
consensus without fully clarifying and justifying their use. In some extent
his subsequent work could be scen as an attempt to respond to these
problems, disposing of some and pursuing others in ways which have led to a
substantial revision of his views. Today, I doubt whether Flabermas would
wish to sustain in any detail the account of the new ideology presented in
The Structural Transformation of the Pubik Sphere. The lotions of ideology and
false consciousness no longer feature significantly in his writings, and tIle
phenomena olrnass comniunication have become increasmgly peripheral to
his core concerns. The earlier analyses have given way ro a wideranir.
preoccupation with the conditions, characteristics and consequences of die
processes olrarionalizarion which define the modern era. a preoccupation n
which the influence of Max Weber looms Iarge} In his more recent work
Habermas oFfers an account of the development of modern societies which
converges in many respects with what I have called the grand narrative of
cultural transforrnatioa Indeed, in volume II of r Theory ofCinininicaz:;v
Arripn, Habermas goes so far as to endorse a version of the end of ideology
 S Ideology in Modern Societies
the radanalizanon of the lifeorld has stripp eveday
IHinnmrcarivc practice of the synthetic and toraiizing tenden
cies inherent
radi non a w on ews. and has thereby chmmated the basis for the
rmatio n of dcolog ies. Individ uals may still be preven ted from grasping the
structu res of domin ation chatac reristic of moder n societies, the processes of
hLicc nnu-cnc inc still blkt; hut t not because of the
.
opaarin of JeolugY but rather because the basis for the operation of
:drctog has breir desiro ed. Ewyda y consciouintu is robbed of its power to
.yrnhesize; it bcconies fragmented In piace of ilse consciousness we
today have a aginented consciousness that blocks enlightenment by the
,necliamsm of 39 rificanon
Tb uc s rut aspuc rs of i-i aberniass revised posi non wInch are, I think,
C UI vtrnezir on his earlier vis. KAbernns is certhy right to
kave nbc problemane of false consciousness behind, and he is right to
emphasize die Importance of fragmentation and reification in analysing the
narui-r 2nd nupact of wiubolic forms in modern socienes. But Lt seezm to me
to sUgCS[ hat, in shifting the emphasis in this way, one is no
<-iiger dealing ssith tlic analysis of Jeolog and indeed to suggest. as
taoer las ra ow 5cc! is odinc d to do, that ideology no oiger plays any
significant roit- in societies which have been propelled into ctiltural
modernity, Tlicse suggestions are based on a rather narrow conception oi
undcrsraod as scurlietic and toraliaiiw worldviews addressed to
p nnc ai acuisrs, a conception which shares much in common with that of
tacr1d ci dcoi- rheoris and hich I criticized earlier. Morver
Flabe, niass suggestions are based on the claim that processes of social and
cultural rationalization have rendered everyday communicative practice so
rransparcrir to individuals that it no longer affords any niches tar the
structural viohoce otideoiogies. Today, argues Haber,nas. the imperatives
1 auJ 110111005 subsysccms are imposed on the action domns oi the
iitnvorld from oursidc, like colonial masters coming into a thbal society.
and they instigate a process ni assimilation that can be understood as a
colonuzarion of the likworlJ. Whatever the merits of this particular
Jo nor think r is helpful or plausible to maintain that the
ITitmunhcanc pracote otevcryday life has become effectively transparent
to individuals to tnt extent chat it no longer offers any foothold for the
operation of ideology. The texture of everyday communication is much
note complex and multilayered, and much more infused with relations of
than Habcrniass axgumcnr would suggest If we develop a broader
conception onSology. as I tried to do in the previous chapter. then everyday
cnirnunIcanvc action can continue to be analysed as a site. tnde a central
sire, ii ideology: Habermass recent proclamations concerning the end of
Ideology in Modern Societies 19
ideology are. like so many that have been uttered betore, JcciI:Jiv
premature.
4 Finally, let me return to Habermass accoun t of the rranskr ,narior i of the
public sphere and address a fourth issue that emerges from this study: to
what extent can the idea of the public sphere be used as a model jar thinkin
2
about the development of political and media instinitions in modern
ciehes F{abcrznas recognizes that industrial societies have changed
much that there could be no question olre-estab]ishing the bourgeois public
sphere as it existed in eighteenthcentury Europe. But he contends that the
idea of die public sphere still has value today as a critical yatdstick. and he
even suggern. however tentatively, that a public sphere could be tecon
stunted in the future, albeit on a different institutional basis. I shall argue
that the idea of the public sphere does retain some value today as a cnncal
yardsdck it calls our attention, for instance, to the importance ofa sphere of
socIal communication which is neither wholly controlled by the state nor
concentrated in the hands of largescale commercial organizations. I hail
take up this point at a lacer stage- flut here I Van, to ask whether, apart trorn
general considerations of this kind, the idea of the public sphere has any
value today as a model for institutional reorganization. Is in plausible to
suggest, however tentatively, that a public sphere could be reconsni[ured in
the conditions of modern industriaL societies? L shall argue that this
suggestion is implausible and that the idea of the public sphcte is largeh
inapplicable to the circumstances of the late twenneth century. Thete are
two aspects of this idea which severely limit its contemporary relevance.
The first limitation stems from the fact that the idea of the public sphere
emerged, as Habermas shows, under the conditions ofa relatively rescticted
circulation of printed materials and the discussion of them in public &,ra
such as salons and cof&e-houses. The original idea of the public sphere was
thus bound to the medium of pnnt and to the conduct of lace-to-face
discussion stimulated and informed by printed materials in fora that were
public (i.e. open in principle to ail) but were distinct from institutionalized
political power. Habernns suggests that, while the traditional fora char
nurtured the public sphere have long since declined or disappeared, the idea
of the public sphere could be reactivated on a different institutional basis.
The problem with this suggestion is that the development ofteclinical media
has dramat ically altered the nature of mass comm unicati on and the
conditions under which it takes place. so much so that the original idea a 1
the public sphere could nor simply be reactivated on a new footing. The
media of print have increasingly giv way to electronicaLly mediated Forms
of mass communication, and especially television; and these new media have
 :1 ii Wodrrn :( rIles
:ranstc,rrnci] rhc- en conditions o 1 interaction, coniinunicatiou and
I Ian J I icern iedes The od&ial idea of the public
sph C;. on in c I nedin In of pri ii and to the conduct of facetoface
intcra non u a shared physical locale, a nnoc be directly applied to the
condinors created by the drveloprnenr of new technical media. lfwe are to
make seimc of these conditions and of the opportunities afforded by them,
we must pay closer attention than Kaherma does to the nature of technical
media at Ed their impact cut social and political life.
I c wcoricl reason why he idea of the public sphere is of limited
char the idea is inked fundamenrly to a notion of
pu;ion lot aIio I. The idea of [he public sphere aumes that
personal )pinOIls of individuals will become public opinion through. and
I-. ritr, ugi. participation in a free and equal debate which is oi in
pit 0 a[ But di is assu I ipnon. whatevcr relevance it may have had to
-
ldeo/ty in Mdrrit Socretirs
account of these processes, it represents a valuable, if sonurwhar neglecrcd.
contribution to such art account, tic drve[opment of winch remains a,
urgent as ever.
My principal aim in this chapter has been To examine some recent theoretical
perspectives on the nature and role of ideology in modern societies. I began
by reconstructing two general accounts which have been deeply influential
in framing recent debates what I called the grand narrative of cultural
transformation, on the one hand, and the general theory of stateorganized
and ideologically secured social reproduction. on the other. I argaed char,
apart frnnl a number ofspecific criticisms that can be nude ofeach. both of
these accounts fail to dojustice to the centrality of mass communication in
modem societies. in is to the credit of the early critical theorists, including

Horkheimer and Adorno, and to the credit of 1-labermas (in his early work at
ni-c niury p ii rc a h it (and this may have been considerably less least) that they emphasized the importance of nuss communication and
than jaberinas suggests), is lr removed from the pohrical realities and sought to re-conceptualize the nature olideology in relation no it. But, as I
ossibihices oldie late racndeth century. There are, of course, niany areas of have tried to show, their contributions are deficient in various ways and
social Iifc in which individuals could assume a greater role in decision cannot be regarded as a suitable basis upon which to rethink the analysis of
making processes, and it may he the case that increased participation in these ideology in the era of mass communication.
proce,s would facilitate the formation of what Habernias calls public Part of my concern in the remainder of this book is ro elaborate an
opt n ci flu at the level o I adonal and irerrianonal politics, and at the
j
alternative approach no the issues which have been raised an this chapter but
upper ir cs ih *lncn pnvcf b exerctscd in largescale civil and co,nnwrciai
which have not In my view, been addressed satisfactoriy by existing
o rap I E
. c dttiic ult 0 seC how nw dra or parnclpatory Opinion
theoretical accounts, shall
I cake, as my guiding theme, the process I have
nuid snpici ci ted in any significant way. What we may hope described as the mediazation of modern culture; by pursuing this theme. I
be.,r a re-accr diission of infornianon concerning tue activities of shall aim to give mass communication a more centra 1 role in die
0 id duaIs ii
org-ai:izatior. a greater diversicy Ln channels of development of modern societies than it has customarily been given in the
on aid 4 greater erri phasis on the esrablishmen t of mechanisms Literaturr of social and poIitica thought. Before turning to the analysis of
througn whid these aaivides can be rendered accountable and controlled. ,nas communication, however, we must give further attention ro the nature
We live -a world today in which die sheer scale and complexity of ofsynibolic forms and their relation to die social contexts in which they are
decisionmaking processes limits the extent to which they can be produced and received. For the emergence and development of mass
organized
In p-artIci patory way.. Het ice the original idea of the public sphere, in so far communication may best be viewed as the emergence and development of a
as it is in Lcd to the r ion of participarory opinion formation. is a 1 limited range of institutions concerned with the production arid diffusion of
releva.iic U iday. symbolic forms concerned, that is, with the commodificadon of cuicure

Cc aJr,, s C Si 1 Sr trcra with some scepticisni Habennass and with the extended circulation of symbolic forms in time and pace.
fl i La- pu plie re coal;! be reconsti toted today oil a different
It seer, h to n-ic cha twe should put this suggestion
aside
rue ta a prix csc ot hc licdia2adon ot uthlern Cu} Wrc
.ini rh Jcmac r.tizanoi, of modern politics, proceue which have
overhippe d 3 : sagni t ii a rent and created i part the social and poll rica]
ConKlin ms of life in the odcrn age. While Haberniass early work on the
stun cnn ral sic rrsacion of the public sphere does riot oflr a sarisfacroty