Problems and Advances in the Theory of Ideology

Abstract

This chapter began as a talk given at the first Communist University of Cambridge (1976). It was transcribed and produced in pamphlet form by Cambridge University Communist Party. The reason for reprinting it here is that although it is almost exclusively expositional it does emphasise and clarify a number of points in Althusser’s work which are frequently overlooked or which are found difficult to follow, especially the concept of the ‘imaginary relation’. The pamphlet enjoyed considerable success as an introduction and several readers suggested to me that it should be more readily available.