Homework. Amy Thomas.
To what extent do ideologies influence our thinking in society today?

Ideologies can affect thinking in modern society. Ideologies such as those of religion and politics appeal to particular groups and influence their thinking. Marxists would describe society as dominated by the ruling class ideology where ‘the ideas of the ruling class, are, in every age, the ruling ideas’ (Marx and Engles). Pluralist ideology directly opposes the ideas of the Marxists, describing how there are many ideas and many groups, and in the presence of democracy no one claim is superior to another. Marxists can be criticised as too deterministic as sometimes the ruling class don’t have total control and the working class can break through the misleading ideas of the ruling class. Gramsci described a dual consciousness, where sometimes the working class see through the ruling class capitalist system but don’t have the option to totally reject it. Postmodernist perspectives describe metanarratives rather than ideologies. Some postmodernists would argue that metanarratives in modern society such as communism or scientific rationalism that aimed to improve the situation in society inevitably ended in disaster. The conclusion postmodernists gather from this is that postmodern society do not believe in metanarratives such as this, leading to a declining influence of ideology on our thinking. Philo and Miller have argued, however, that postmodernism is itself an ideology and supports capitalism – postmodernism is described as supportive of inequality by ignoring the fact that the poor cannot afford to consume as the wealthy can.
Feminists argue that patriarchal ideology is in more control than the ideology of the ruling class. Feminists identify the power of the patriarchal ideology where the ideas that men are superior; men are more logical;