Karl Marx's Theory of Ideas

by John Torrance

Karl Marx's writings contain, besides economic analysis and the political theory of revolutionary communism, an influential sociology of ideas, explaining how social life shapes and distorts people's ideas and beliefs. This book presents a fresh critical study of this theory, establishing what Marx did and did not say, and distinguishing the more scientific parts of his thought from those that were overly influenced by his revolutionary aims. The author argues that Marx's own theory of ideas can play an important role in explaining the subsequent degeneration of Marxist thought itself.

Genres: Politics

456 pages, Hardcover

First published May 4, 1995

Reviews

[Chin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marx never defined ‘ideology’ but it is clear that set of ideas he called ideologies are the five main features in his eyes. Ideology is an effect of false self consciousness. “Ideology is the ‘top tier’ in a model of historical determination of superstructures by the economic base. (Engels’ idea) It has two levels, the political and the religious. What determines the ideals of a class are ideological if it is functional or dysfunctional development of productive forces. Therefore, Marxism are for the proletarian ideologies. The working class movement demonstrates the inferior of bourgeois ideology.