Conceptions of Ideology:The Marxist Tradition

Ideology is one of the key concepts of modern social and political theory, and also one of the ‘most equivocal and elusive’.1 It is a key concept not only because it is so widely used but also because it is hard to imagine how one could dispense with a concept of the nature and function of ideas in the analysis of social and political life. It is an elusive concept not only because it is defined in so many different ways but also because its many meanings and uses are themselves so often ideological. In the following two chapters I do not seek to offer anything like a comprehensive account of the variety of conceptions of ideology; this would be impossible in the space available.2 Rather, I seek only to outline the origins of the concept and the development of the main traditions of theorising about ideology; to identify the problem of ideology; to consider possible solutions to the problem; and to provide a basis for the further examination of the relationship of ideology, science and philosophy as modes of political thought. This chapter considers the origins of the concept of ideology and its treatment by some of the main thinkers in the Marxist tradition. The next chapter considers some of the important conceptions of ideology in the non-Marxist tradition. This distinction between the Marxist and the non-Marxist traditions is convenient and not wholly arbitrary. As will be argued, the first substantial theory of ideology is provided by Karl Marx.