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Comparing Althusser And Ideology

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Comparing Althusser And Ideology
Althusser advances two theses on ideology: "Ideology represents the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence" and "Ideology has a material existence". The first thesis tenders the familiar Marxist contention that ideologies have the function of masking the exploitative arrangements on which class societies are based.
The second thesis posits that ideology does not exist in the form of "ideas" or conscious "representations" in the "minds" of individuals. Rather, ideology consists of the actions and behaviours of bodies governed by their disposition within material apparatuses. Central to the view of individuals as responsible subjects is the notion of an explanatory link between belief and action, that
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