An ideology is a system or a collection of ideas, ideals, beliefs and values held by a group or a community and which create a form or foundation upon which economic, social, political policies are based. The ideology provides the basic logical and comprehensive explanation of such a group economic, social and political issues and standing and as a result, it helps develop the goals and actions of the group as an economic, social or political entity.
Ideologies, therefore, are closely connected to science and conscience since they consistently shape the perception of reality held by the group, community or society. Such influence includes the influence of how people see political leaders, the economic systems of their society or their rival group, perceptions towards government policy or their perceptions and reactions towards the distribution of wealth in the society among others (Berger, 2012). The people act on the basis of their ideology, for instance, they may decide to vote or not to vote based on their different ideologies without even giving thought about the different ideologies. Even individuals who do not articulate with the ideology they subscribe their action will still show how different ideologies have an influence on them.
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According to Marxists theory, ideology is in many instances used to express and project the class interests. Ideology consistently curries formalized and systemized meanings are more or less conscious (Berger, 2012). As a result, it is easy to convey meaning through popular cultures such as songs, television programs and other mass media outlets and most of the consumers may consume such ideologies without consciously discerning it. There are numerous examples of how ideologies have been conveyed through cultural products and used to manipulate public beliefs in the past and present.
A good example of ideology being conveyed through cultural products is the attack on various thoughts the make up the modern capitalistic culture through the movie Fight Club 1999 . The movie acts as a commentary on the existing crisis of contemporary capitalism. There emasculation of men who have lost their manhood to effects modern capitalism. For instance, fathers are out working and the boys are left at homes to be raised by mothers. They thus become a generation raised by women and feminized. There is also a capitalistic associated materialism where people insatiably buy things to fill vacuums in their hearts. For instance, the narrator in the movie obsessively buys expensive furniture, clothes and other things to serve his ego. All these are considered a form of "masturbation." However, his alter ego, Tyler, destroys these pricey but meaningless things by burning them and setting out to destroy consumerism. It is seen as a call for men to reclaim their masculinity that they lost by being raised by absent fathers, becoming domesticated and using the meaningless material things to fill the gap left by their lost masculinity (Christoffersen, 2016).
Media has also been used to spread and popularize ideas on feminism, homosexuality and lesbianism. They have been particularly popularized through new media and music. For instance, songs such as “All the Lovers” by Kylie Minogue, “Smalltown Boy” by Bronski Beat and “Closer” by Tegan and Sara carry messages that identify with homosexual and lesbian audience encouraging them to be hat they are. News programs also consistently appeal to the message of the LGBT community, thus popularizing them and their plight and as a result popularizing the idea of same-gender relationships.
TV shows like The West Wing (1999-2006), The Americans (2013) and House of Cards (2013) among others convey political messages that shape viewers ideology of how the American government and political actors conduct their activities. Such show can shape how people view different political actors, for instance, The West Wing (1999-2006) uses the presidential staff of a fictitious Democratic Party president and may shape the public opinions of the Democrats (Strank, 2018).
Although its people who come up with ideologies, these ideologies turn out to influence many others, communities and even nations. The passing of the ideologies through popular culture makes it easy to subtly impact people and shape their behavior without resistance. In turn, the ideologies influence how the people act.
References
Berger, A. A. (2012). Media analysis techniques . Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE.
Christoffersen, N. (2016, March 18). Fight Club: A Commentary on the Crises of Capitalism. The Prolongation of Work. Retrieved from https://sites.williams.edu/engl117s16/uncategorized/81/
Strank, W. (2018). Behind Presidential Commitments: Exemplary Crises in the USAmerican TV Shows Kennedy and The West Wing. Área Abierta 18 (2): 277-292.
