ABSTRACT
The Dominant Ideology Thesis had its gestation during 1980s period, which with hindsight was comparatively brief, when the intellectual climate of British sociology was influenced by new forms of Marxism, notably structural Marxism. A notable feature of the 1980s was the movement for ideological renewal, often labelled Thatcherism. It seems to be associated with a redefinition of the dominant ideology. Changes in the real world of the British political economy in the first decade of Thatcherism appear to have challenged the earlier conclusions about the nature and significance of ideology. The stability of capitalism could be explained by reference to the existence of a dominant ideology which had the consequence of incorporating the working class into the capitalist system. Capitalism involves the production and exchange of commodities with the aim of accumulating a surplus value, that is, profit. The other intellectual tradition which formed a background to the study was the postwar sociological tradition of class analysis in Britain.
