Ace Ventura, 10/22

This week we discussed the concept of ideology in relation to the fact that these ideologies are constructed by the "ruling class". When Dr. Casey showed us the pictures of champagne vs. Budweiser or Mercedes Benz vs. GM, it became clear the "ruling class" is somewhat of an ambiguous term. Is the ruling class the people that drink champagne and drive Mercedes Benz's or is the ruling class the people that make up the corporations of produce Budweiser or GM (before the economic crisis of course)? Maybe the fact that we can't readily identify who makes up this ruling class is part of the concept of ideology because society is supposed to believe that these ideologies are in the best interest of everyone (or that they are common) and we are supposed to accept them subconsciously. Therefore, we shouldn't be able to identify who the ruling class is that's creating these rules to abide by. Although in class I said that the ruling class would be the people drinking champagne and driving Mercedes', after thinking about it, I now think that the ruling class are the people that make up the corporations who create products like Budwieser or "working-class cars" like GM. This is because these are the products that are considered common and this is in itself an ideology. These corporations make these products and produce them for a certain demographic of people, whether it is the way they advertise it or just the price of it. Therefore, they are telling the public "if you are from this economic level in society, you should be drinking this drink and driving this car", while they themselves can afford the champagne and the luxury vehicles.