Lukács, Mészáros and the Timeliness of the Notion of Ideology

Abstract

This study presents the results of a bibliographic investigation of the timeliness of the concept of ideology for thinking about social struggles in the 21st century. It looks to Gyorgy Lukács and his disciple István Mészáros for a conceptual design that permits us to recuperate the criticality of that notion, from an ontological perspective. Often understood as false consciousness, ideology should be seen in its function as a guide to ongoing conflicts and confrontations. In this manner, it can be seen that ideology remains an obstacle to a critical consciousness of reality and impedes the submission of the subaltern classes to the project of radical social change, whose necessary goal must be the elimination of capital.