ABSTRACT
The conventional approach to understanding how ideology operates assumes by and large that ideology is “inscribed in” people simply because they are in a particular class position. The power of dominant ideas is either a given in which dominance is guaranteed, or the differences in “inscribed” class cultures and ideologies will generate significant class conflict. In either case, ideology is seen as something that somehow makes its effects felt on people in the economy, in politics, in culture and education, and in the home, without too much effort. It is simply there. The common sense of people becomes common sense “naturally” as they go about their daily lives, lives that are prestructured by their class position. If you know someone’s location in the class structure, you know her/his set of political, economic, and cultural beliefs, and you don’t really have to inquire into how dominant beliefs actually become dominant. It is usually not assumed that these ideas “should positively have to win ascendancy (rather than being ascribed it) through a specific and contingent (in the sense of open-ended, not totally determined) process of ideological struggle.” 1
