ideology
ideology [Ge].The belief system, true or untrue, shared by members of a society or a subgroup within a society. Adherence to the belief system is an obligation of membership of the society or subculture. There are many ways in which ideologies can be identified. They may refer to a set of ideas held by a group of people, to ideas about social reality which are false (false consciousness), or to ideas, knowledges, or practices which result in the reproduction of social relationships characterized by inequality or contradiction. Following Marx, ideology serves to legitimate or mask the real state of social relations. It is thus a key concept in exploring patterning in the archaeological record on a number of different scales, and has become a major theme in the field of SOCIAL ARCHAEOLOGY.
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