Bourgeois ideological appearances can have real emancipatory effects for the oppressed.

Evidence

Freedom and equality are appearances which mediate the relations of exchange and capital. But for someone forced to flee from a dictatorship, the existence of these appearances is a matter of life and death. Appearance itself is a reality, for its existence determines whether survival in a bourgeois society is possible. This led the representatives of Critical Theory to reflect on how to move beyond the concept of dialectically mediated totality, that is, the notion that superstructure is always simply an expression. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 818

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s existing interest in how ideology isn’t merely false consciousness — echoes the revisionist reading of Adorno as engaged with real political effects rather than pure pessimism. — connects to: Ideological human-rights commitments can produce real emancipatory effects. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 817; Serious attention to ideology in its own terms strengthens rather than weakens Marxism.; Ideological forms like wages serve to maintain capitalist domination — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 903 (+1 more)
• SEED: Potential essay: ideological appearances as life-or-death infrastructure for refugees — the material stakes of ‘mere ideology.‘

Broader Connections

• Ideological forms like wages serve to maintain capitalist domination #complicates (0.80) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 903
• Serious attention to ideology in its own terms strengthens rather than weakens Marxism. #expands (0.78)
• Ideological forms are where people become conscious of material conflicts and fight them out. #expands (0.75)