Ideology

what is an ideology?

An ideology is a world view, a system of values, attitudes and beliefs which an individual, group or society holds to be true or important; these are shared by a culture or society about how that society should function.

Dominant ideologies

Ideologies that are told to us repeatedly by important social institutions such as the church, the law, education, government, and the media are called dominant ideologies.

Dominant ideologies are ideologies or beliefs that we live by in our day-to-day lives and often do not question – they have become 'natural, common sense' things to do. This effectively dissuades people from rebelling against these beliefs, and keeps a sense of stability in society.

Dominant ideologies include beliefs about gender roles, about the economy, about social institutions.

Consumerism has been a dominant ideology in the western world since the industrial revolution. Consumerism is a world view that a person has more worth if she or he has more material possessions and that we are made happier by consuming more goods.

How ideology relates to media studies

Media texts always reflect certain values or ideologies though sometimes we may not be aware of this. An example might be that in some texts, such as action films like the Die Hard or the Lethal Weapon series – solving problems with force is seen as an acceptable value and reflects a certain ideology.

The media is a successful carrier of ideology because it reaches such a huge audience. The study of the media allows us to consider and question dominant ideologies and look for the implications of different ideology and value systems.

Modern writers (Marxist and others) have adapted and developed this idea so that all belief systems or world views are thought to be ideological. Although some ideas and beliefs seem more 'natural' or 'truthful', there is no absolute truth with which to measure the accuracy of representations. 'What interests those who analyse media representations is whose ideological perspective is privileged. This raises the issue of power inequalities. 'While Marxists have emphasised social class differences, others have increasingly pointed to gender and racial inequalities. 'What is agreed is that popular culture, especially media output, is the site of a constant struggle over the production of meaning. The media's role may be seen as:

• circulating and reinforcing dominant ideologies; or
• (less frequently), undermining and challenging such ideologies.

What is important to note is that the media and the audience are both part of the process of producing ideological meaning.

By Paul Oxton

ALBUM COVER PHOTOS

These photographs are going to go into our album cover as a collage. We need to edit them on photoshop before we do so. We took these pictures on a digital stills camera so they are high definition.

By Tom Gudgeon and Paul Oxton

More CD Designs

This design was done on Photoshop and is a design that would be for the CD itself.

By Tom Gudgeon

album covers and CD designs

there are three album cover designs and three designs for the CD it self. we thought we would use clowns because we are using clowns in our footage and since we have a high voltage sign in our film there is one on a CD.

by paul oxton