| The principle concern which will guide the following discussion is to outline the basics of an alternative theory of political ideology. I take as my point of departure the idea that political ideology can be known only if one has first identified its inherent structure. Both Ian Adams and Louis Althusser have advocated variations of this view. After explicating the theories developed by Adams and Althusser, I then interrogate the concept of "structure" in order to establish several conditions which must hold true of any structure. I then proceed to determine whether or not the theories developed by Adams and Althusser can accommodate the implications which follow from their use of the concept "structure." Finally, in the last chapter I draw on several aspects of Lacanian thought while exploring the possibility that political ideology may be better understood as a manifestation of a collective attempt to structure the social world. |
