On the Character of Ideology Marx and the Present Debate in Britain

In an attempt to reassess Karl Marx's original concept of ideology, it is argued that the structuralism & historicism of twentieth-century Marxist criticism have obscured Marx's real view of ideology, particularly through the great attention paid to the explanations of Louis Althusser or Georg Lukacs. It is claimed that Marx used ideology in a very critical & restricted sense, unlike structuralist or historicist critics, that he comprehended ideology as a component of the superstructure of ideas, not as equivalent to it. The expression of false consciousness is compared to Marx's perceptions of consciousness, expressed in The German Ideology ([with Engels, Frederich], Arthur, C. [Ed], London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1970) & other texts. 29 References. D. Dunseath.