What is political ideology, and why do you subscribe to it - Essay Example

e classic works of Althusser, Mannheim, Freeden and Bell are clarifying this term in terms of its connection to real practices, morphologic structure, and internal classification. So, in a given essay the definition of political ideology is stated and its internal power to influence minds in analyzed. To start with, the very appearance of ideology is caused by human nature. As Althusser (1969) assumed, the fact that human beings use their mental abilities in order to comprehend the world around them creates the very appearance of ideology.

As the author summarizes it, “ideology is a ‘representation’ of the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence” (Althusser, 1969, p. 162). In other words, it is a specific way to imagine reality in general and political conditions in particular. Moreover, materialistic dimension is crucial for Althusser as he refers to the theory of Karl Marx in his determination of ideological thinking. In this case, ideology as a part of certain ideological state apparatus “always exists in […] its practice, or practices” (Althusser, 1969, p. 162). So, each behavior in society is regulated by the way people appreciate and interpret the world around them.

Consequently, their mental constructs impact the reality they live in. Finally, the continuous existence of ideological thinking evokes the fact that some people have more authority than the others. Hence, the phenomenon of ruling ideology appears. In this context, individual can be easily transformed into the agent of ideology by approving certain procedures of interpretation. Actually, each member of society has prescribed identity or “appointed as a subject in and by specific familial ideological configuration” (Althusser, 1969, p. 176). And so, the horizon of senses which is created by the human thinking on social unequal background enables the very appearance of ideology.

Similarly, in the field of political struggle the way of