Ideology 

“Ideology: the mistaken belief that your beliefs are neither mistaken nor beliefs.”

― Eric Jarosinski

You can think of ideology, which is often described as a worldview, as a map that we carry around in our heads to understand the world around us. It consists of all our beliefs, values, assumptions, and expectations, which ultimately accumulate in a distorted lens that obscures our reality. Ideologies are powerful forces that shape the way we behave as individuals and entire societies. It's important to recognize that multiple competing ideologies often operate in society at any given time, but there is usually a dominant ideology that has the biggest impact on society, community or situation at any given time. 

Marx's View on Ideology

Marx believed that ideology was born out of a society's mode of production. According to Marx, a superstructure, which is everything other than the ways in which a society produces goods (the base), was used to legitimize societal structures and the interests of the ruling class. It maintained the status quo by convincing the population that the organization of their society was natural and inevitable. 

Gramsci's View on Ideology

Developing Marx's ideas, Gramsci proposed a theory of cultural hegemony. He believed that ideology had a stronger grip on society and consciousness than Marx had thought. He posited that societal institution of education played a strong role in maintaining political and social structures because they teach ideas, beliefs, values and identities that reflect the interests of the ruling classes. Additionally, they produce compliment and obedient members of society. 

Louis Althusser on Ideology

After Gramsci, a group of academics associated with the Frankfurt School proposed that popular culture plays as strong a role of disseminating ideology as education does. They believed that this was possible through the ways that popular culture, art and the mass media represented society, people and lifestyles. 

Additionally, Althusser developed his concept of ideological state apparatus (ISAs), which are institutions that maintain a dominant ideology. These institutions, he claimed, consisted of the media, religion and education. 

Further Reading