Lecture 12 Marxism: Ideology and domination

Marx on ideology The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas. It controls both the means of material production and mental production. Ideology works to conceal the real relations of production

Gramsci and hegemony. The ruling class dominates symbolic production through control over the ideological sectors of society (culture, religion, education, the media). This explains the institutional basis of false- consciousness. Awareness of this can only be achieved with the help of an external agent.

Althusser Capital-owning classes needed to reproduce the means of production, which includes a compliant labour force trained in proper attitudes. The ideological state apparatuses: organised religion, formal education, the family, the legal system, the media, cultural production

James Scott Subordinate classes are able to penetrate prevailing ideology. Hidden transcript and the necessity of routine, pragmatic submission to the compulsion of economic relations. The hegemonic ideology creates the contradictions that permits it to be criticised in its own terms.

The political economy of the village The hegemonic ideology developed from the agricultural production needs of the wealthy. The wealthy transformed a portion of their economic capital into status, prestige and social control. Self interested acts passed off as voluntary acts of generosity or charity. This was necessary where direct physical coercion was not possible

Ideology and domination There are multiple ideologies Hidden transcript: The poor only conform to the hegemonic ideology in pubic but in private have radically different interpretations and beliefs. Domination defines what is realistic and makes certain aspirations impossible The poor and rich alike manipulate the dominant ideology/moral system to their advantage. The poor challenge the wealth with their own ideology.

Maurice Bloch - Merina Circumcision ritual Despite the fact that the uses to which the ritual was put changed, as did the economic and political context, the form of the ritual remained unchanged. This contradicts both the structural functionalist and Marxist analysis.

The rituals symbolism Transmission of the blessing of the ancestors onto the newest generation. Image of the past as an unchanging and conquering the present. Individuality, the product of this life, is opposed to a unity of the descent group which is achieved in death. Legitimates the authority of elders

Marxist analysis of the ritual Ideology which legitimates the authority of the elders. In capitalist societies workers must be convinced that creativity is principally the product of a supernatural force – capital. Ancestors are the equivalent to capital - seen as true source of creativity.

Blochs analysis Ideology is not created by power holders. Knowledge conveyed through ritual has an indirect relation to practical knowledge. The ritual does not replace the knowledge of this world by the transcendental one; it merely suggests the transcendental world, just over the horizon, after death. The emotional power of the ritual comes from the fact that everyone has the potential to become ancestors.

Key message of the ritual Creativity is not the product of human action but due to a transcendental force which is mediated by authority This fact legitimates, even demands, the violent conquest of inferiors by superiors who are closer to the transcendental ancestors.

The ritual and power Exists independent of the political groups that have made use of it. Those who had power were able to place themselves in the position of elders. The nature of ideology is that it carries at its core a simple general message, which can be recovered and used for almost any type of domination.