Ideology

Ideology is a concept that we need to understand and apply to our analysis and construction of media texts.

Ideology is defined as a world view, a system or set of values, beliefs or attitudes that an individual, a group or society hold to be true or important.  

When analysing a media text you might look to identify a dominant ideology.  These our ideologies that are repeatedly communicated to us by important social institutions such as the media, the church, the Government, the law and educational establishments.  These our ideologies that we live by in our day to day lives and often do not question as they have become natural common sense things that we believe. 

These dominant ideologies effectively dissuade us from rebelling against these beliefs and maintains an air of moral stability within our society.

Dominant ideologies include beliefs about gender roles, marriage, family, sexuality, religion, about tradition and heritage, about the economy and about social institutions.

Consumerism has become a dominant ideology in the western economies since the industrial revolution.  It is based upon the principle that a person is happier if he or she has more material possessions and by consuming more and more material goods.

Common examples of ideologies include;

Committing a crime is against the law and if you commit a crime you need to punished.

Education is to be valued and you should go to school to gain qualifications to become a valued member of society with a responsible job.


How could you identify the ideology of a music magazine?  What does it value or hold as important?

Does it value new music? Does it value live music events?  Does it value up and coming artists?  Does it place importance upon particular genres or styles of music?  Does it value promoting particular lifestyles or products?  Does it value a narrow range of music or a broad range of music? Does it value influential artists from the past?  Does it value a particular social group?  Does it believe that music is important?  Does it believe buying music is important?

How is this conveyed? How do you know this?  What evidence do you have to support your view?

Answering these questions will help you to establish the ideologies present in the media texts you analyse and in those you construct.