Ideology as Social Criticism

The ideologist first distinguishes himself from the generality of mankind in his role as a critic of society. Ideology claims to be an unusually deep or radical form of criticism. The ideological criticism operates by focusing attention upon the one aspect of power, thus conveying that consumers of news are victims of that power. This assumption of passivity is the counterpart of the premise already mentioned: ideological criticism rejects the moral stance as unreal. There can be no doubt that criticism of society couched in a language of philosophical fundamentalism is intellectually more impressive than the rough expedients of the politicians. Social criticism is thus a pathology in which each abuse is taken to reveal one or other model of oppression. Ideological criticism thus uses specific evils in modern life in order to generate a pure model of domination. Social criticism, then, is guided more strongly by its censorious thrust than by its concern with truth.