Le Developpement ideologique en situation coloniale: essai de theorisation

In: Canadian journal of political science: CJPS = Revue canadienne de science politique : RCSP, Band 9, Heft 1, S. 49-62

Abstract

The fundamental element in the Marxist conception of ideology is the determination of ideas & perceptions by the ways in which people earn their livings & the social conditions to which these give rise. This view by itself, however, does not adequately explain the ideological framework of a social organization or its process of development. The dialectic governing the formulation of ideologies is not only vertical, but horizontal as well. While capitalist modes of production may be dominant, feudal or slave systems of production may exist alongside them at the same time, especially during transitional periods. The colonial expansion of Europe gave rise to a variety of such cases, including Latin America, the US, & Canada. In the first case, that of colonialist social structure, the dominating classes come gradually to share the ideology of metropolitan nations, leading the dominated classes to share the ideology of the dominated metropolitan classes. In the latter--that of colonized social structure--one part of the metropolitan society detaches itself, & is largely free of internal conflict, encountering conflict through external relations. Modified HA.