Pojęcie ideologii jako pojęcie krytyczne

Abstract

The article discusses the significance of the concept of ideology for social sciences. Although this concept was abandoned a long time ago in favour of the more “neutral” terms, due to Marxism and psychoanalysis it returned to social sciences in the second half of the 20th century. In the article, I present the concept of Louis Althusser, whose perception of ideological phenomena shifts them from the field of studies on cognitive mistakes and manipulation towards the socialization theory. I discuss shortly the psychoanalytical sources of this concept and point to the sociological tradition where similar concepts and problems can be found. I use the empirical example to illustrate the consequences of Althusser’s theory for understanding ideology, and Slavoj Zizek’s theory to show the ways out of certain impasse of this theory. In the summary, the question returns on the importance of the concept of ideology for social sciences.