Robby Riehle Marx-Make up

Karl Marx, one of the greatest economist, philosophers, and sociologists ever to live, focused nearly his entire life studying socialism, capitalism, positions of power and the public’s quality of life. A famous quote of his is, “It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being which determines their consciousness”. The point Marx is making here is who you are is determined by your social status, not your personality. All decisions in your life revolve around your role community its relation to the rest of the people in society. This is an example of how Althusser’s would say, “Ideology represents the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence”. This is because, “he who has the gold, makes the rules” and “the class which is the ruling material force of society is at the same time its ruling intellectual force.  The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, consequently also controls the means of mental production.” An example of this is what is called Agenda Setting or Gatekeeping. Basically huge media conglomerates like Time Warner, or Disney own news companies so they get to decide what is broadcasted, (what we are thinking/talking about) and how. This is referred to as Framing, the particular spin applied to a message, which can manipulate how we interpret information and therefore shape opinion. Thus, the ruling class makes ideology. But since the public is never privy to this information or its framing it is subliminal, hence “ideology saturates everyday discourse in the form of common sense” (Hebdige) Relating back to how public is an absent-minded observer” (Benjamin).