Reinvigorating ideology critique: between trust and suspicion
The concept of ideology has historically been a master signifier of critique in media and communication studies. However, the concept's status has been decentred, to the extent that Downey, Titley and Toynbee recently argued in this journal 'there's no ideology critique' I affirm their call for a reinvigoration of ideology critique in media studies, although I question the force of their claim that contemporary media researchers are indifferent to ideology. I also argue for a theoretically open ended conception of ideology that interrogates the default 'hermeneutics of suspicion' of traditional ideology critique.