Gramsci, Althusser and Pêcheux: the ideology in question

Abstract

In this article, we present the conception of ideology in Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser and Michel Pêcheux based on a bibliographical survey of the authors' work, especially those texts that deal with the issue of ideology. The systematic reading of the texts allowed us to visualize the way they both conceive the notion of ideology according to the rereading they made of the texts they appropriated to think about the ways of existence of ideology. Taking historical materialism as a starting point, those authors will give a theoretical organization to the sparse threads that Marx and Engels leave loose in their works. In their different reading gestures, Gramsci, Althusser and Pêcheux will elect culture, institutions and discourse as material forms of ideology.