A Philosophical Study on the Concept of ‘Ideology’ in Marxist Tradition

Abstract

‘Ideology’ can be defined as the ‘science of ideas’ in general. The term ‘ideology’ has first coined during the French Revolution and it has taken different other meanings thereafter. In the contemporary world, the term ‘ideology’ is used in a much broader sense that Marx has used it. The application of the term into the current societies is mainly does in the political field. It should be mentioned that each and every political thought is based on an ideology. The objective of this study is to comparatively examine how the concept of ideology was defined by Marx, Gramsci and Althusser. Textual analysis method has used in this study. Gramsci and Althusser are western Marxists. Therefore, their views on ideology are different from that of Marx. They invented new terms like false consciousness and cultural hegemony. In the contemporary politics, it is possible to observe having a bet of ideology. Not only in politics, but also in market, academic and other fields, ideology plays a prominent role. Marxist ideology can be used to understand such things. Although these philosophers had some sort of different views on ideology, they have done a great contribution to the political thought by emphasizing the hidden layer (ideology) of everything.

Keywords: Ideology, Marx, Althusser, Gramsci, Marxist Tradition

JEL Classification: B15, I18, I28