Base and Superstructure Karl Marx and Marxism
acknowledge the flawed system, or by the absence of internal recognition of the lower classes that they are being deprived systematically.
On the other hand, nonrepressive ideologies such as Marxism, aims to produce awareness of the existence of repressive ideologies that divert the people
from understanding themselves as the products of their socioeconomic circumstances. Hence, nonrepressive ideologies prevent the subservience of the
working class people to the order established by the ruling class’ repressive ideologies Tyson, 2006: 57.
Capitalism, as a resounding ideology today, can be categorized into the realm of repressive ideology due to its function in naturalizing the injustice social
system in the society. Capitalism justifies the misery of the masses in legitimizing the power and prosperity of particular group in the society. It permeates the way
individuals perceive their world, helping them to accept their conditions as the way it is supposed to be, despite the existence of discrimination and ignorance to
the marginalized masses in society. Capitalism takes the form of obviousness, it is perceived as common logic, for example the view that if one is capable to pursue
happiness, if one works really hard for it. Or the belief that poverty is the result of the lack of perseverance and efforts. It justifies the marginalization of the
underpriviledged people. Whereas this view hides the reality which the unemployment of the underpriviledged people is caused by the systemic
discrimination in work place and education, hence creating the vicious circle upon which they cannot escape. In this case, capitalism works to create a space in
which individuals, the underpriviledged people, are able to make sense of their
world, to cope with the difficulties and tribulations they faced regularly. It helps them to accept reality as it is.
Capitalist ideologies, such as American Dream, become one of the focuses of Marxist criticism due to their support to the socioeconomic inequities in
America as a capitalist country Tyson, 2006: 58. American Dream was founded on the ideas of “getting ahead”, competition, and rugged individualism, among
many others. These ideals that form the self-made men, such as Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln, become the common trajectory of all Americans,
the ordinary or the priviledges ones. Many believe that it is natural to be able to feel “better” or “ahead” than anyone else, as well as that competition is only a
natural way of things, as old as Darwinian “survival of the fittest”. Above all, rugged individualism is perceived as an innate or natural way to see the world, the
only means to realize one’s ambition. According to Marxist analysis, these ideologies are repressive in which they “blind” the people “to the enormities of
their own failure”, such as the slavery of the Africans, the racism and abuses suffered by the immigrants, the gaping disparity between the rich and the poor,
and others. Ideologies justify ignorance, aggression, and segregation due to their perception as obvious truth. In fact, as concluded by Tyson, the success of
American Dream relies to the misery of the masses, and ideology diverts the people to understand these harsh realities 2006: 58.
As explained by the Russian Marxist critic Georgy Plekhanov in Eagleton, 1976: 6, literary works are the “forms of perception, particular ways of
seeing the world”, and therefore they are related to the dominant ideology of that