Introduction: “The Ideology of the Aesthetic” by Terry Eagleton
“The Ideology of the Aesthetic” by Terry Eagleton, first appeared in 1988 in the journal Poetics Today, is considered a significant contribution to the field of literature and literary theory due to its incisive analysis of the concept of aesthetics and its ideological underpinnings. Eagleton argues that aesthetics, far from being a neutral or objective category, is deeply intertwined with social, political, and economic structures. By examining the historical development of aesthetics and its relationship to various cultural and philosophical discourses, Eagleton offers a compelling critique of the notion that art and beauty are autonomous and independent of broader social concerns.
Summary of “The Ideology of the Aesthetic” by Terry Eagleton
- Aesthetics and Power:
- Aesthetics is not solely about art but a broader “program of social, psychical, and political reconstruction.”
- Eagleton links aesthetics to the political concept of hegemony, stating, “It denotes instead a whole program of social, psychical and political reconstruction on the part of the early European bourgeoisie.”
- Aesthetics as a Discourse of the Body:
- Aesthetics mediates between sensation and reason, initially introduced by Baumgarten as a “sister of logic.”
- Aesthetics is the bridge between material life (the body, sensations) and intellectual life (reason and thoughts), addressing how reason and sensibility integrate to dominate human experience.
- Shift from Coercion to Hegemony:
- Eagleton interprets the aesthetic as a method to “rule and inform our sensuous life from within while allowing it to thrive in all its relative autonomy,” transitioning from coercive power to consensual hegemony.
- Schiller and Aesthetic Education:
- Friedrich Schiller’s work focuses on social hegemony, advocating for the modulation of the psyche through aesthetics, making it a subtle yet powerful force for ideological control.
- “The aesthetic modulation of the psyche” plays a central role in softening Kant’s rigid rationalism, blending ethics and aesthetics into a cohesive system of social control.
- Aesthetics and Manners:
- Aesthetics are involved in disciplining the body and converting morality into style. “Manners,” as Eagleton describes, are a “crucial hinge between ethics and aesthetics.”
- Social practices become aestheticized, where “ethical ideology loses its unpleasantly coercive force and reappears as a principle of spontaneous consensus.”
- Aesthetic as Social Control:
- The aesthetic subject internalizes the law as “the very principle of its free identity” and works “all by itself,” resembling the self-regulating subject in Althusser’s ideological theory.
- Aesthetic judgments mask deeper ideological control, as noted by Eagleton, “Structures of power must become structures of feeling, and the name for this mediation… is the aesthetic.”
- The Sublime and the Beautiful:
- Eagleton contrasts beauty as a “consensual power” with the sublime, which is “coercive.”
- This distinction reflects the tension between the softer, hegemonic forms of power (beauty) and more overt, authoritarian forms (sublime).
- Ideology and Aesthetic Judgment:
- Aesthetic judgments, Eagleton argues, are “constative” but fundamentally performative and ideological, operating as emotive utterances while posing as objective truths.
- This duality ties aesthetics to ideology, where subjective experiences are universalized and enforced as societal norms.
- Hegel and the Aestheticization of Reality:
- Hegel sought to reconcile subjectivity and freedom with the alienation experienced by individuals in bourgeois society. He projected “subjectivity into the object itself” to achieve unity, leading to an “aestheticization of the whole of reality.”
- Aesthetics and Bourgeois Ideology:
- Eagleton points out that bourgeois ideology uses aesthetics as a means to make the world feel more hospitable, even though bourgeois values often contradict this.
- The aesthetic provides a sense of community and unity in bourgeois society, standing in for the failures of both the coercive state and fragmented civil society.
- However, Eagleton notes the precariousness of this unity, commenting on how “human unity must be…rooted in nothing more resilient than the vagaries of aesthetic judgment.”
- Critique of Bourgeois Individualism:
- Aesthetics emerges as a critique of bourgeois individualism, and while it serves as an ideological tool for the ruling class, it also offers glimpses of utopian critique, particularly in its potential for fostering empathy and shared human experience.
- Conclusion – Aesthetics and Materialism:
- Eagleton concludes by suggesting that aesthetics, originally a “supplement to reason,” now poses a threat to reason, challenging the division between reason and sensation.
- He foresees the next stage of aesthetic thought moving toward a materialist perspective, citing the works of Marx and Freud, who approach aesthetics from the vantage of the “laboring body” and the “desiring body.”
Key Quotations:
- “The aesthetic, in other words, marks an historic shift from what we might now, in Gramscian terms, call coercion to hegemony.”
- “Aesthetics is thus the ‘sister’ of logic, a kind of inferior feminine analogue of reason, at the level of material life.”
- “The bourgeoisie has won certain historic victories within the political state; but the problem with such conflicts is that, in rendering the Law perceptible as a discourse, they threaten to denaturalize it.”
- “Pleasurable conduct is the true index of successful social hegemony, self-delight the very mark of social submission.”
Literary Terms/Concepts in “The Ideology of the Aesthetic” by Terry Eagleton
| Term/Concept | Explanation | Relevance in Eagleton’s Argument |
| Aesthetics | A philosophical study of beauty and taste, focusing on the senses and emotions, particularly how they mediate our perception of art and life. | Central to Eagleton’s argument, aesthetics is framed as a project of social, political, and psychical reconstruction by the bourgeoisie, transcending mere art to serve as an ideological tool. |
| Hegemony | A form of power that is maintained through consensual domination rather than overt coercion. | Eagleton argues that aesthetics functions as a form of hegemony, subtly governing individuals’ sensuous life and ensuring that ideology is internalized without force. |
| Sublime | A concept associated with overwhelming, awe-inspiring experiences, often invoking fear or admiration. | Eagleton contrasts the “sublime” with the “beautiful” to highlight two forms of power: the sublime as coercive authority, while beauty serves as consensual, pleasurable hegemony. |
| Beautiful | Aesthetic judgment focused on harmony, balance, and pleasure, typically evoking a sense of consensual approval. | Represents a consensual, agreeable form of social control in Eagleton’s analysis, in contrast to the more oppressive nature of the sublime. |
| Ideology | A system of ideas and ideals that shapes individuals’ perceptions of reality and social structures. | Eagleton explores how aesthetics operates ideologically, shaping individuals’ internal lives, making social control seem natural and consensual. |
| Materialism | The philosophical belief that reality is primarily composed of physical, material elements, often contrasted with idealism or abstract concepts. | Eagleton traces the aesthetic to a form of “incipient materialism,” focusing on the sensuous, bodily experiences that ground social reality. |
| Hegemony vs. Coercion | A distinction between power exercised through voluntary consent (hegemony) versus power enforced through fear or violence (coercion). | Eagleton argues that aesthetics marks a historical shift from coercion to hegemony, as social control becomes internalized in everyday life through aesthetic experiences. |
| Lawfulness without Law | The idea that rules and norms can be internalized and followed without overtly acknowledging their authority, akin to the “unconscious” following of social codes. | Eagleton uses this concept to explain how bourgeois subjects regulate themselves, turning aesthetic and ethical norms into unspoken, internalized behaviors. |
| Phenomenology | A branch of philosophy that explores subjective experiences and consciousness as the primary means of understanding reality. | Eagleton references Husserl’s phenomenology to highlight how aesthetics reflects the structures of everyday life and consciousness, deeply tied to lived experience. |
| Political Unconscious | A concept from Fredric Jameson, referring to the hidden ideologies embedded in cultural forms that reflect societal power structures. | Aesthetic judgments, according to Eagleton, are embedded with ideological content that reflects the political unconscious, regulating social behaviors and beliefs. |
| Kantian Aesthetics | Immanuel Kant’s view that aesthetic judgments are disinterested and universally valid, grounded in the harmony between the faculties of understanding and imagination. | Eagleton critiques Kantian aesthetics for its idealism but notes that it serves bourgeois ideology by providing a model for how individual subjectivity can align with universal social norms. |
| Ethical Relativism | The belief that moral principles are not absolute but are culturally or individually determined. | Eagleton discusses how aestheticizing moral judgments risks slipping into ethical relativism, undermining the bourgeoisie’s control over moral values. |
| Sensuous Representation | A representation of ideas or experiences through sensory perception and emotional response. | Eagleton critiques Hegel for underestimating the ideological power of sensuous representation, which plays a crucial role in maintaining bourgeois social order through aesthetics. |
| Universal Subjectivity | The notion that aesthetic judgments reflect universal human experiences, rather than being limited to individual perspectives. | Eagleton critiques this as an ideological function of aesthetics, where the subject is led to believe that their personal, subjective experiences reflect universal truths, masking the societal forces behind those experiences. |
| Civil Society vs. State | Civil society refers to the realm of private individuals and economic relationships, while the state is a coercive, public authority. | Eagleton shows how aesthetics resolves the problem of fractured bourgeois civil society, providing a “third realm” where communal unity is achieved through shared aesthetic experiences, bypassing the state’s coercive authority. |
| Imaginary (Lacan) | A concept in Lacanian psychoanalysis that refers to a realm of illusions and images where the subject misrecognizes itself as whole and unified. | Eagleton uses Lacan’s Imaginary to describe how the aesthetic allows the bourgeois subject to misperceive the fragmented social reality as harmonious, thus serving as an ideological tool for masking contradictions in society. |
| Moral Sense Theory | A theory, particularly associated with British philosophers like Shaftesbury and Hutcheson, that moral judgments are based on innate feelings or “senses.” | Eagleton contrasts the aesthetic-based “moral sense” theory with rationalist approaches to morality, noting its potential for both ideological control and subversion of bourgeois values. |
Contribution of “The Ideology of the Aesthetic” by Terry Eagleton to Literary Theory/Theories
1. Contribution to Marxist Literary Theory
- Aesthetics as a Tool for Bourgeois Hegemony:
- Eagleton interprets aesthetics as an ideological apparatus that supports bourgeois hegemony, moving from coercion to consent: “Aesthetic marks an historic shift from what we might now, in Gramscian terms, call coercion to hegemony.”
- The aesthetic functions to “discipline the body” and “convert morality to style,” thus aestheticizing virtue and embedding ideological control within everyday experience.
- This insight aligns with Marxist literary theory, which critiques how ideology functions to sustain class dominance, and Eagleton demonstrates how aesthetics has been a key tool in this process.
- Ideology and the Aesthetic Subject:
- Eagleton explores how the aesthetic creates a self-regulating bourgeois subject who internalizes the law as “the very principle of its free identity” and works “all by itself” without direct political control.
- This reflects a Marxist critique of subjectivity under capitalism, where the subject unconsciously reproduces class relations, making aesthetics an instrument of class reproduction.
2. Contribution to Poststructuralist and Deconstructive Criticism
- Questioning the Universality of Aesthetic Judgment:
- Eagleton critiques Kantian aesthetic judgment for presenting subjective experiences as universally valid, noting that “subjective and universal coalesce” in aesthetics and ideology.
- This aligns with poststructuralist critiques of universalism, which argue that universal truths are often disguises for particular interests. Eagleton’s deconstruction of aesthetic judgment exposes its ideological nature, showing how it serves bourgeois values while claiming universality.
- The Sublime and the Beautiful as Binary Oppositions:
- Eagleton discusses the opposition between the “beautiful” (as consensual power) and the “sublime” (as coercive power). This duality reveals how aesthetic categories are not neutral but ideological, serving different forms of social control.
- His approach here contributes to deconstructive literary criticism, which often interrogates binary oppositions to reveal how they function ideologically and to show how the “beautiful” and “sublime” are not neutral but politically charged concepts.
3. Contribution to Psychoanalytic Literary Theory
- Lacanian Mirror Stage and Aesthetic Subjectivity:
- Eagleton draws on Lacan’s concept of the Imaginary and the mirror stage to explain how aesthetics allows the bourgeois subject to misrecognize itself as harmonious and whole, masking deeper contradictions: “The Kantian subject of taste… is in effect the infantile narcissist of the Lacanian mirror phase.”
- This offers a contribution to psychoanalytic literary theory, particularly in exploring how aesthetic experiences reflect the subject’s desires for unity and coherence, which are projected onto social and political realities.
- Aesthetic as a Narcissistic Projection:
- He suggests that aesthetic experience offers a moment of self-estrangement where the subject “forgets its referent for a magical moment” and turns to the act of knowing itself, reflecting the Lacanian notion of narcissism and the mirror stage.
- This insight integrates psychoanalytic theories with aesthetic critique, linking the desire for self-unity to the ideological function of aesthetics in bourgeois society.
4. Contribution to Phenomenology and Existentialism in Literary Theory
- Phenomenology of Lived Experience:
- Eagleton engages with Husserl’s phenomenology by examining how aesthetics mediates between the lived, sensory experience of individuals and broader social and political structures. He claims that aesthetics reflects “the formal, rational structures of the Lebenswelt” (lifeworld).
- This contributes to phenomenological literary theory, which is concerned with how texts represent subjective consciousness and lived experience.
- Aesthetic as the Moment of Sensuous Particularity:
- He emphasizes how aesthetic experiences ground abstract reasoning in “sensuous particulars,” aligning with existentialist themes of lived experience and the body’s role in shaping meaning.
- Eagleton extends this to critique bourgeois social practices that attempt to aestheticize and thus control the individual’s sensory life, contributing to phenomenological critiques of ideology.
5. Contribution to Ethical Criticism and Cultural Criticism
- Aestheticization of Ethics:
- Eagleton discusses the “aesthetic modulation of the psyche” as a project of “ideological reconstruction” where ethical imperatives are transformed into aesthetic judgments. This transforms moral conduct into a matter of taste, contributing to discussions in ethical criticism about how moral values are constructed and represented.
- By blending ethics and aesthetics, Eagleton critiques the bourgeois project of making morality intuitive and pleasing, masking coercive structures through “manners” and “decorum.”
- Cultural Hegemony through Aesthetics:
- Eagleton contributes to cultural criticism by analyzing how aesthetics pervades everyday practices, making ideology appear natural through cultural forms. He argues that bourgeois ethics and aesthetics merge into a consensual ideology that “infiltrates the very textures of lived experience.”
- His focus on the everyday aestheticization of social life shows how ideology functions not just through political structures but through cultural norms and practices, contributing to cultural materialism.
6. Contribution to Postcolonial Literary Theory
- Aesthetics and the Colonial Subject:
- While Eagleton primarily discusses aesthetics in the context of European bourgeois society, his critique of aesthetic judgment’s universal claims can be extended to postcolonial theory.
- His observation that bourgeois aesthetics imposes a “universal” that reflects a particular (European) perspective resonates with postcolonial critiques of how Western aesthetic values were used to justify colonial domination and cultural imperialism.
7. Contribution to Reader-Response Theory
- Aesthetic Judgment as Ideological:
- Eagleton explores how aesthetic judgment is not merely individual but structured by social norms and ideology. He suggests that readers’ responses to art and beauty are shaped by these ideological structures: “What is from one viewpoint an absolute rightness is from another viewpoint just something I happen to feel.”
- This ties into reader-response theory by acknowledging the subjective and socially constructed nature of aesthetic experience, emphasizing that readers’ responses are conditioned by cultural and ideological forces.
Key Quotations from the Article:
- “Aesthetic marks an historic shift from what we might now, in Gramscian terms, call coercion to hegemony.”
- “The aesthetic modulation of the psyche… is to say a full-blooded project of fundamental ideological reconstruction.”
- “The Kantian subject of taste… is in effect the infantile narcissist of the Lacanian mirror phase.”
- “Structures of power must become structures of feeling, and the name for this mediation… is the aesthetic.”
Examples of Critiques Through “The Ideology of the Aesthetic” by Terry Eagleton
| Literary Work | Critique Through Eagleton’s “The Ideology of the Aesthetic” |
| Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen | – Aestheticization of Social Norms: The characters in Pride and Prejudice operate within rigid social structures, where manners and decorum reflect the ideological construction of morality. Elizabeth Bennet’s wit and judgments are shaped by an aesthetic sensibility that aligns with Eagleton’s idea of “manners,” where “moral ideology reappears as a principle of spontaneous consensus.” Austen critiques the superficiality of social norms, but these norms are nonetheless aestheticized, embedding class and gender hierarchies in daily interactions. |
| Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad | – Colonial Ideology and the Sublime: The novel’s portrayal of the African wilderness as a terrifying and incomprehensible force reflects the sublime in Eagleton’s terms—coercive and crushing. Marlow’s aesthetic judgments about the African landscape are ideological, presenting Europe as rational and civilized while the African wilderness is portrayed as chaotic and dangerous. The aesthetic of the sublime here masks the colonial ideology, which justifies exploitation and domination through the contrast between the “civilized” and the “savage.” |
| The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald | – Aestheticization of the Bourgeois Ideal: The Great Gatsby embodies Eagleton’s critique of how bourgeois society turns ethics into aesthetics. Gatsby’s pursuit of Daisy is not just emotional but framed as an aesthetic quest, turning her into a symbol of wealth, beauty, and social status. The novel critiques the American Dream, showing how its ideals of freedom and success are aestheticized and commodified, making Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy an ideological reflection of class and materialism. |
| Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë | – Sensuous Experience and Bourgeois Hegemony: Wuthering Heights can be read through Eagleton’s lens as a critique of how aesthetics internalizes ideological control. The novel’s intense focus on emotional and sensory experiences—particularly in the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff—reflects Eagleton’s notion of sensuous particularity. The wildness and raw emotion of the characters contrast with the bourgeois values of control and order, highlighting a tension between natural human passion and the socially imposed hegemony of class and property relations. This tension questions the ideology of social conformity. |
Criticism Against “The Ideology of the Aesthetic” by Terry Eagleton
- Reduction of Aesthetics to Ideology:
- Critics argue that Eagleton reduces the entire field of aesthetics to a mere tool of bourgeois ideology, neglecting the complexities and nuances of aesthetic experience. By viewing all aesthetic judgments through the lens of power and ideology, he overlooks the autonomy of art and its potential for subversion and resistance.
- Overemphasis on Marxist Framework:
- Eagleton’s analysis is heavily reliant on Marxist theory, which some critics feel limits his ability to engage with aesthetic theory in a broader, more interdisciplinary way. This rigid Marxist lens might oversimplify the historical and cultural dimensions of aesthetics, focusing primarily on class and power dynamics.
- Neglect of Aesthetic Pleasure and Artistic Value:
- By focusing on the ideological functions of aesthetics, Eagleton is accused of downplaying or ignoring the intrinsic pleasures and values that people derive from art and beauty. His analysis tends to disregard the emotional and subjective responses individuals have to art, reducing aesthetic pleasure to a function of social control.
- Simplification of Kant and Other Philosophers:
- Eagleton’s critique of philosophers like Immanuel Kant and Edmund Burke is seen by some as overly reductive. Critics claim that he simplifies complex philosophical concepts, particularly Kant’s notion of “disinterestedness,” to fit his argument about bourgeois ideology, thus missing the depth and subtleties of their aesthetic theories.
- Insufficient Engagement with Postmodern Aesthetics:
- Eagleton’s focus on the Enlightenment and bourgeois aesthetic theory is critiqued for not adequately addressing postmodern developments in aesthetics. The text has been seen as somewhat dated or lacking engagement with more contemporary critiques of aesthetics that explore postmodernism, globalization, or digital culture.
- Overgeneralization of Bourgeois Society:
- Some critics suggest that Eagleton tends to overgeneralize the bourgeoisie’s use of aesthetics, implying a monolithic control over art and culture. This neglects the diversity within bourgeois culture and the potential for alternative interpretations and uses of aesthetics within different social contexts.
- Undermining Aesthetic Autonomy:
- Eagleton is criticized for undermining the idea of aesthetic autonomy— the belief that art can exist independently of politics and ideology. By treating all aesthetics as fundamentally ideological, he dismisses the possibility that art and aesthetic experiences could transcend social and political constraints.
Representative Quotations from “The Ideology of the Aesthetic” by Terry Eagleton with Explanation
| Quotation | Explanation |
| “Aesthetics is born as a discourse of the body.” | Eagleton emphasizes that aesthetics originally relates to sensory experiences and physicality, rather than purely intellectual or artistic pursuits. This materialist approach highlights how aesthetics interacts with bodily sensations, making it a crucial part of understanding power and social control. |
| “Aesthetics marks an historic shift from what we might now, in Gramscian terms, call coercion to hegemony.” | This quote connects aesthetics to the concept of hegemony, suggesting that aesthetics allows the ruling class to maintain power through consent rather than overt force. Eagleton frames aesthetics as a tool for subtle social control, aligning with Antonio Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony. |
| “The bourgeoisie has won certain historic victories within the political state; but the problem with such conflicts is that, in rendering the Law perceptible as a discourse, they threaten to denaturalize it.” | Eagleton explains the bourgeois class’s dilemma: by exposing power through political victories, they risk making the law (and thus power structures) subject to contestation, which is why aesthetics becomes a way to “naturalize” law and make it seem inherent and unquestionable. |
| “Structures of power must become structures of feeling, and the name for this mediation from property to propriety is the aesthetic.” | Aesthetic experience becomes a way of transforming abstract power structures into something felt and experienced in everyday life. The shift from “property to propriety” indicates how the bourgeoisie uses aesthetics to regulate behavior and social norms, linking material and moral worlds. |
| “Pleasurable conduct is the true index of successful social hegemony, self-delight the very mark of social submission.” | Here, Eagleton suggests that when people find pleasure in their social roles and behaviors, it indicates that hegemony has been internalized. Aesthetics plays a role in making submission to social order feel natural and even enjoyable, masking the ideological control beneath it. |
| “The aesthetic is thus the first stirrings of a primitive, incipient materialism.” | Eagleton ties the emergence of aesthetics to materialism, suggesting that aesthetic experience deals with the material, bodily world rather than abstract ideals. This highlights how aesthetics is rooted in the sensory and the tangible, which makes it an important tool for shaping social realities. |
| “Aesthetic judgment conceals an essentially emotive (subject-oriented) content within an apparently referential form.” | Aesthetic judgments, according to Eagleton, may appear to be objective or universal, but they are deeply tied to subjective emotions and ideological values. This masking of subjectivity as objectivity plays a key role in the functioning of ideology within aesthetics. |
| “The sublime—that which crushes us into admiring submission—is coercive.” | Eagleton contrasts the beautiful (consensual power) with the sublime (coercive power). The sublime, like oppressive authority, overwhelms the individual and demands submission, highlighting a form of aesthetic experience that mirrors authoritarian control. |
| “The Kantian subject of taste… is in effect the infantile narcissist of the Lacanian mirror phase.” | By linking Kantian aesthetics to Lacan’s mirror stage, Eagleton critiques Kant’s theory of aesthetic judgment, suggesting that it reflects a narcissistic misrecognition of unity and harmony. This shows how aesthetics can foster a false sense of self and social coherence, masking deeper contradictions. |
| “What is from one viewpoint an absolute rightness is from another viewpoint just something I happen to feel.” | This quote captures the ideological nature of aesthetic judgments, where something that seems universally valid is actually a subjective experience. Eagleton critiques how aesthetics presents personal tastes and values as if they were universally binding, thus reinforcing ideological norms. |
Suggested Readings: “The Ideology of the Aesthetic” by Terry Eagleton
- Althusser, Louis. Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Monthly Review Press, 2001.
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm - Gramsci, Antonio. Selections from the Prison Notebooks. Edited by Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith, International Publishers, 1971.
https://archive.org/details/gramsci-prison-notebooks - Jameson, Fredric. The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act. Cornell University Press, 1981.
- Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Judgment. Translated by Werner S. Pluhar, Hackett Publishing, 1987.
- Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. University of Minnesota Press, 2008.
- Eagleton, Terry. The Ideology of the Aesthetic. Wiley-Blackwell, 1990.
- Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Translated by Alan Sheridan, W. W. Norton & Company, 1977.