Mike of Modernity (or post?)

Althusser, Marx and Hebdige all tackle the very heady concept of defining "ideology". A cursory definition might seem to suffice for such a seemingly innocuous word that is a general term for a body of beliefs and ideas of a certain group or class. But defining what group adheres to what ideology, and how said ideology influences and impacts history, culture (as nebulous a term as ideology) and society at large is a much more difficult matter all together. This becomes strikingly clear when you read Dick Hebdige and his thoughts on the subconcious vs concious nature of ideology. Does a society know that its ideological values influence and shape its future? Are our "moral values" or beliefs that we adhere to intrinsic to our geograghical and metaphysical place in the world? What's more, is one's conscious choice to resist prevailing ideologies a matter of will, or simply a part of the cycle in which the dominant class subjugates and consumes any "otherness" that may appear. The hegemonic nature of the traditional Marxist "ruling class" is in a "continual process of recuperation... the subculture incorporated as a diverting spectacle within the dominant mythology from which it in part emanates"(Hebdige 155). This incorporation is something I saw with my own eyes as a teenager growing up in the "punk era, just as Hebdige is describing. I remember the shock and disgust that punk music elicited, especially among older more conservative people, but also among younger people already well interred into the prevailing ideology of "normality" and "order" that the Punk scene was rebelling against. As a pragmatist, I know the punk movement was for many simply an excuse to be irresponsible, party, and destroy things. At the heart of it though, there was a real seed of discontent with the "ruling class", in this case British government, that drove so many to this subculture. Most were poor or uneducated, and it allowed a kind of expression that was original, shocking and creative. But as soon as it hit, it was packaged and sold as a lifestyle by anyone who wished to co-opt it. Soon it was influencing mainstream fashion and any creedence it had as anarchist or revolutionary was destroyed. Perhaps just as well for a rather chaotic "ideology", but it is the same for any threat to the unspoken "hegemony" that raises its head. War protestors were labelled as "unpatriotic" after we invaded Iraq, but now the overwhelming opinion seems to be that they were right. Perhaps there is some empowerment in the way our societal structure swallows the subculture's that it breeds. Maybe if we could give it bad indigestion for few days while it tries to process the idea of true diversity and freedom, we will all be a little better off.