Mass Media and the Concept of Ideology By

It has been suggested that the whole of Marxism can be summed up in Marx’s (1978) now famous declaration, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles ” (473). This is, of course, an oversimplification. But the fact remains, with class conflict understood to be the driving force of history, Marx not only effectively challenged the Hegelian orthodoxy of his time, he also put forward a deceptively simple assertion that became a fixed point from which history itself was made. If then, as Marx said, history is inexorably driven toward conflict and the eventual liberation of the working classes, how do we explain the apparent triumph of capitalism? Among the various answers offered, perhaps Marxist theories of ideology offer some of the most intriguing explanations. Indeed, with the ever-increasing ubiquity mass communications, whether implicitly or explicitly, Marx’s concept of ideology has taken on renewed currency in terms of providing at least a partial accounting for the apparent absence of any significant challenge to capitalism’s ascendancy. Historically, Marx (1978) claims that the capitalist bourgeoisie is unique in the sense that it significantly deepened the extent of oppression and subjugation. By breaking up “the feudal ties that bound man to his natural superiors, ” there was left “no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous cash payment ” (475). Under these conditions, Marx was convinced that wit