1. IDEOLOGICAL STATE APPARATUS/MEDIA

2. Ideology
 Ideology generally refers to the
promoted ‘ideals’ for which society feels
the need to conform to.
 These ideals are influenced by a
number of different social institutions.
 One of these is the mass media.

3.  The concept of ideology is a Marxist theory,
which was explored by Louis Althusser.
 Althusser saw ideology as being a force
which shapes people’s thoughts/awareness.

4.  The ‘ideals’ ideology refers to are
expressed through the media in a fair
number of different ways.
 One of these is how the media can be
seen as dictating the ideal lifestyle to its
audience.

5. Media Influence
 If we take a look at the offerings on
television we can see that there are
definite ‘ideals’ being communicated.
 An example of this is how the media
presents family units.

6.  Regardless of the programme you
watch, there is a good chance that the
lead character’s family is a nuclear unit.

7.  Often this is because the nuclear unit is
typically believed to be the most
common family structure.
 Writers will take note of the fact people
are likely to have interest in characters
that could be seen as representing
them.
 By putting characters into a ‘common’
nuclear family unit, they will reach a
large audience.

8.  This leads to programming consisting
mostly of nuclear family units, given
them the most media exposure.
 This exposure promotes the idea of the
nuclear family unit as being ideal to the
audience.
 This cycle continues, which ensures that
the common belief of ideals is
strengthened more and more.

9.  As we’ve seen now, the media industry
uses the ideals it has already created as
a basis for marketing products.
 Over time the industry has helped shape
ideal lifestyles; which gives them a
chance to sell products on the basis that
they conform to said ideals.