The Concept of Ideology in Nicos Poulantzas

Abstract

This essay examines the pivotal role assigned by Nicos Poulantzas to ideology within the dynamics of the capitalist state. Poulantzas interprets ideology as essential to the ideal unity of the state and its apparent autonomy from class struggle. By analyzing his theoretical works, Political Power and Social Classes (1968) and State, Power, Socialism (1978), alongside applications in historical-political contexts like Fascism and Dictatorship (1970), the study highlights the centrality of the ideological instance in the reproduction of capitalist social formations. It discusses Poulantzas’s critique of historicist perspectives, the interplay between ideology and class struggle, and his conceptual evolution towards ideology as a material practice embedded in the relations of production and class dynamics.