Charles E. Bressler, Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and
Practice: "Marxism"
"...the totality of people's experience -- social interactions,
employment, and other day-to-day activities -- is directly responsible for the
shaping and development of an individual person's consciousness...our place in
society and our social interaction determine our consciousness or who we really
are" (Bressler 169).
Personal consciousness, or our ways of thinking, comes from all of the
things we have experienced throughout our lives. We are influenced by a number
of structures and institutions that surround us: family, education, politics
and government, friends and other acquaintances, our work environments, and
many others. The things we are taught become a part of us—the way we think,
speak, act, and even the things we wish to do, all come from the social
structures that we are a part of.
Though every person is a part of such structures, no two experiences or ways
of thinking are going to be the same. Personal ideology is unique to each
individual. Not only that, but social ideologies will be different from city to
city, state to state, nation to nation, and continent to continent. Social
ideologies form when many personal ideologies form a hegemony, or begin to
think the same way, at least enough to get things done and to avoid constant
social unrest.
Where we really run into trouble, though, is when such group ideologies
cannot find a way to work together. Be it in matters of international policy or
defining what literature “counts” as literature, the different value systems
and ways of thinking cannot always agree. Thus we are shaped not only by the
compromises and agreements with other individuals and with social groups, but
we are shaped by the disagreements. The thought processes and interpretations of
the world are formed by both the good
and the not so good; there is no perfect ideology, just as there is no perfect
human being.
