The term ‘ideology’ conflates necessary superstructure with arbitrary individual fancies

Evidence

It seems to me that there is a potential element of error in assessing the value of ideologies, due to the fact (by no means casual) that the name ideology is given both to the necessary superstructure of a particular structure and to the arbitrary elucubra-tions of particular individuals. The bad sense of the word has become widespread, with the effect that the theoretical analysis of the concept of ideology has been modified and denatured. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1338

Categorization

• DEFINE: Identifies the ambiguity Gramsci flags: ‘ideology’ names both necessary structure and arbitrary individual theorizing, and the bad sense has denatured analysis.