The following book is pretty good: Sayer, Derek. 1987. _The Violence of Abstraction: The Analytic Foundation of Historical Materialism_. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
He argues, if I remember correctly, that ideology isn't "false consciousness" (an illusion) as much as a mirage, i.e., a distorted perspective on reality. - At the start of Edward Bellamy's non-Marxist LOOKING BACKWARDS, there's a good analogy that summarizes the Marxist theory of ideology for me: he describes a coach that's running wild and loose (i.e., capitalism) with all sorts of people having different perspectives. The capitalists sitting on top have a completely different view than the workers hanging on to the bumper, etc. (It's like the philosophers and the elephant story, but with class playing a role.) Jim Devine > PEN-L: > > I am looking for a brief passage on Marx's theory of ideology. This > is for a popular handout. Thanks in advance for any suggestions. > > Seth Sandronsky
