Volume 2 / Athens 2000 "Contemporary Views in Ideology" by Manos Spyridakis This was the topic of the conference heId in the 3rd of December at Panteion University in Athens with the collaboration of the "Group of Anthropology of the Center of Research and Documentation" and the periodicaIs "Politis" and "Qutopia". The core issue of the discussion concerned the determination and understanding of the term ideology as a way for legaIization of the dominant groups in the level of symboIic systems via the projection of their ideas and axioms as universal conceptions. Ideology is a very serious issue to deaI with as it mediates aII aspects of our Iives, it is firmly connected with sociaI practices, it gains ceaselessly new forms and it is characterized by confusing definitions. The main points of reference were: 1) the reIation of intellectuals with the sociaI subject of history, 2) whether or not the critique of ideoIogy concerns a neutraI or class based knowledge, 3) is ideology identified with the myth? 4) is ideology incompatible with science and ahistorical as Althusser has supported? 5) what about the relation between base and superstructure, 6) is ideoIogy Iimited to the level of social reproduction only or is it extended wholly to encompass institutions and practices? 7) is ideoIogy strictly connected to culture and by consequence to the Iinguistic system? 8) if ideoIogy is the product of power, then how do we distinguish between power and authority? 9) which is the place of the deconstruction theories, and 10) which is the subject of the revolutionary ideology? The conference took place in two sessions. The first included the discussion concerning the area of practices whereas the second the area of theory respectively. Through the above mentioned, the discussion ended up with the conclusion that it is impossible for the current level of theoretical approaches to cope with the scientific truth leaving aside the sociopolitical life, the relationship between knowledge and society as well as the polymorphous shape that historical movement constantly takes. Also the conference stressed that ideologies are neither stable nor homogenized since they change along with historical contexts. This is the reason for which scientists can no longer neglect historical processes as well as the realities they produce. The issue of ideology's determination is incessantly puzzling and complex as social reality and its historical movement. Return to Top