Ideology

 In his introduction, Terry Eagleton traces the historical evolution of ideology and examines in a more theoretical style the various meanings of the word and their significance. The readings cover writings from the Enlightenment via Hegel and Marx, with particular emphasis on Marx and Engels themselves. The concept is taken through to Althusser and beyond. The text then goes on to discuss recent debates about ideology as a cultural system. All the readings are theoretical rather than examples of 'ideology at work' and will be of interest to undergraduate students of cultural, political and historical studies as well as students of English literature.