MARX’S CONCEPT OF IDEOLOGY

Most substantial contribution of Marx would be a clarification of his understanding of ideology. There is not a clear-cut definition of ideology. Marx’s treatment of ideology is unfortunately ambiguous, tense and scattered which makes the job of interpretation a tough one. The significance of the term ‘ideology’ is apparent with its complex connections to the whole system of Marx’s thought. Reconstruction of theory of ideology includes the evaluation of texts directly relevant to ideology as well as the ones that barely mention ideology. Discussion of a ‘break’ or ‘evolution’ or ‘continuity’ in Marx’s thought of ideology reflects a political choice about ‘who is Marx’. That is, it should be kept in mind that, evaluation of Marx’s ideas is not satisfactorily neutral and presentation of ‘who is Marx’ necessarily implies a theoretical position, including this very effort. The argument supported here will be one of ‘middle way’. Despite the undeniable change and improvement in Marx’s thought, it points an ‘evolution’ rather than a sharp ‘break’