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Marx's Concept of Ideology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2009

H. M. Drucker
H. M. Drucker
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh.
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Extract

The concept of ideology plays an important part in contemporary social and political thinking. In many works which raise the question about the relationship between what men think and how their societies operate some mention of ideology is made. Since the variety of thinkers who write about this relationship have a variety of views on the subject, it is not at all surprising that they disagree about just what an ideology is. It might be helpful if we could agree on just one usage, or, failing that, understand why a variety of usages is necessary and understand them.

Type
Articles
Information
Philosophy , Volume 47 , Issue 180 , April 1972 , pp. 152 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 1972

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References

1 de Tracy, Destutt, “Mémoire sur la faculté de penser”, Mémoires de l'Institut National des Sciences et Arts pour L'an IV de la République; sciences morales et politiques Tome premier, Paris. Thermidor An VI, p. 324.Google Scholar

2 See Picavet, F., Les Idéologues: Essai sur l'histoire des Idées et des Théories Scientifiques, Philosophiques, Religieuses etc. en France Depuis 1759 (Paris, 1891)Google Scholar and Van Duzer, C. H., Contributions of the Ideologues to French Revolutionary Thought (Baltimore, 1935).Google Scholar

3 De Tracy, , op cit., p. 324.Google Scholar

4 de Tracy, Destutt, A Treatise on Political Economy; to which is prefixed a supplement to a preceding work on the understanding of Elements of Ideology (Georgetown, 1817).Google Scholar

5 For a list of these remarks see Drucker, H., “The Nature of Ideology and its place in Modern Political Thought”, Appendix (unpublished Ph.D. Thesis at London University).Google Scholar

6 cf. Gould, J. and Kolli, W. T., A Dictionary of the Social Sciences (London, 1964), pp. 315–317, esp. p. 316.Google Scholar

7 See Marx, K., Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (London, 1928), Volume I, pp. 387–8.Google Scholar

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9 Marx, K., op cit., p. 278Google Scholar. See Meek, R., Marx and Engels on Malthus, (London, 1953), pp. 11, 121–2.Google Scholar

10 Marx is harder on Malthus than his Socialist Theory requires. There is no reason inherent in Socialism why a Socialist state could not limit birth control. See the introduction by Flew, Anthony: Malthus, , An Essay on the Principle of Population, Harmondsworth, 1970), pp. 48–54.Google Scholar

11 Marx, K., Holy Family or Critique of Critical Critique, (Moscow, 1957), p. 176.Google Scholar

12 Marx, K., Holy Family or Critique of Critical Critique (Moscow, 1957), pp. 237, 249.Google Scholar

13 Marx, K., German Ideology (Moscow, 1965), pp. 448–9.Google Scholar

14 op. cit., p. 449.Google Scholar

15 op. cit., p. 454Google Scholar; cf. p. 452 on the role of Mill, J. S. “The complete union of the theory of utility with political economy is to be found, finally, in Mill”.Google Scholar

16 Ibid.

17 Marx, K., Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (Moscow, 1954), Volume I, p. 620.Google Scholar

18 Marx, K., Theories of Surplus Value (Moscow, 1954), p. 25.Google Scholar

19 Marx, K., German Ideology, preface.Google Scholar

20 Marx, K., Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (New York, 1967), p. 365; 760 fn.Google Scholar

21 Mannheim, K., Ideology and Utopia (London, 1936).Google Scholar

22 Mannheim, K., Ideology and Utopia (London, 1936), p. 173.Google Scholar

23 op. cit., p. 175.Google Scholar

24 op. cit., p. 76.Google Scholar

25 op. cit., pp. 139–142Google Scholar. The claim mentioned is not, of course, the only guarantee of the scientific purity of Mannheim's new science. But it is crucial.