Abstract
Niels Bohr provided the perfect example of how a fetishist disavowal of belief works in ideology: seeing a horse-shoe on his door, the surprised visitor said that he didn't believe in the superstition that it brings luck, to which Bohr snapped back: 'I also do not believe in it; I have it there because I was told that it works also if one does not believe in it!' This is how ideology works today in our epoch, which presents itself as 'post-ideological': we practice our beliefs, even if, consciously, we do not take them seriously. The disavowed ideological dimension is inscribed in everyday material practices and rituals, especially in the apparently innocent reference to pure utility (a man who lives in a large city and owns a Land Rover doesn't simply lead a no-nonsense, 'down to earth' life; rather, he owns such a car in order to signal that he leads his life under the sign of a no-nonsense, 'down to earth' attitude).
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