CMCstudent, 3/2

During class we talked about how ideology functions subconsciously to normalize everything we do and makes it appear “natural.” An example we used was that of a classroom atmosphere being “normal” for us. We expect to walk in and see whiteboards, desks, and for all students to sit down facing toward the teacher. We are told by ideology that this is a “classroom setting” and therefore expect to see it in “classrooms.” On spring break if we were to walk into the hotel room and see a whiteboard we would think…uh this is not a classroom, what is this doing here? Instead we expect to see a cheap seascape. Vis-à-vis, if we walked into a classroom and saw cheap seascapes where whiteboards should be we would be very confused. This shows that some ideology has to exist or everything would become chaotic and out of place.

Culture is not just different depending on place, but also depending on time. I remember my dad telling me about a time he was in the hospital when he was about my age. When he woke up from his surgery, he looked across the room to a guy who also just had surgery. The guy had his leg bandaged up and was casually smoking a cigarette [in the hospital]. My dad didn’t think anything of it, nor did the doctors or nurses. Ideology was in play and no one was to question it. Smoking in hospitals was something in the culture of the 70’s/80’s that was normal. That is how things have changed in just the past 20 to 30 years for example in health services because we are constantly learning, replacing old ideology with new ideology. Today, we have the mindset of “why would anyone in their right mind smoke in a hospital, everyone knows second hand smoke is deadly!” This is an example of an ideological change over time.