A Study On Ideology Of Laclau And Mouffe’s

The study on the issue of ideology has a long history, meanwhile, it is extremely complex and sensitive. The theory of Marx’s ideology, which was born in the period of free capitalism, put an end to the metaphysical ideological fantasy, and then pull the ideology back to the real world we live in as soon as it was published. With the continuous development of productive forces, capitalism has stepped into the post-industrial era, the change of capitalist mode of production has changed human being’s living conditions and ways of thinking, which makes Marx’s ideology fall into the theoretical predicament, at the same time, the international socialist movement is in a low ebb in practice. Therefore, Laclau and Mouffe began to deconstruct the traditional classical theory of Marxism, and tried to reconstruct a ideology system of contemporary practical value. This paper analyzes the Laclau and Mouffe’s deconstruction on the traditional Marxism from three aspects. First of all, Laclau and Mouffe deconstructed "essentialism", they argue Marxism excessively emphasize the decisive role of economy, which was also admitted by Laclau and Mouffe, but they believe that the leadership in the political and cultural field can’t be ignored. Secondly, Laclau and Mouffe deconstructed the subject status of "working class". They believe that the revolutionary consciousness of the “working class” began to fade with the continuous improvement of the living conditions and welfare system, which makes the working class appear to be a division and the dispel of the working class’ s unity. Finally, Laclau and Mouffe deconstructed the "closed society". They argue that the empirical “society” concept with overall determination, structural stability and fixed meaning is impossible because utterance meaning will change in different contexts and setting articulation point can enable the society to reach a relatively stable status. It is the openness and impossibility of the society makes the Hegemony of the Articulation possible.Laclau and Mouffe constructed their ideological thought based upon the Hegemony after the deconstruction on the traditional classical Marxist theory. On one hand, they include the “hegemony” into the framework of ideology through their on some related factors like "articulation", "confrontation" and logic of contingency. On the other hand, they discussed the possibility of the blending of hegemony and ideology. They emphasized has the importance of hegemony in the ideology field, and analyze the specific conditions for the construction of hegemony in the field of ideology, and finally put forward the practical ways of gaining hegemony in the field of ideology.Laclau and Mouffe’s ideology is representative for the Post-Marxism ideology, although some misunderstandings on Marxism exist in their thoughts, such as the criticism of historical materialism, the shaking of working-class main body status, the objectivity of things. Laclau and Mouffe’s theory provides us a new perspective to examine the Marxism and their hegemony theory, discourse theory, radical and plural democracy strategy is a nice try to response to the challenges that Marxism are facing in the post-industrial age, and their theories are trying to enhance the explanatory power of Marxism, and polish Marxism to have stronger operability. Furthermore, Laclau and Mouffe’s hegemony theory offers us some clues on how to response to western ideology, to master the discourse right of ideology and to promote the construction of socialist deliberative democracy with Chinese characteristics, and to make full use of the patriotic United Front.