Marx and ideology 120Marxism and political economy 125The limits of political economy 130Althusser’s theory of ideology and structuralist MarxismAlthusser’s Marxism: economic determinism and ideologyGramsci, Marxism and popular culture 148Gramsci’s concept of hegemony 153Conclusions: Marxism, Gramscian Marxism and popular cultureTHIS CHAPTER WILL critically assess contemporary Marxism’s analysis of popular culture.1 It will consider, in particular, approaches to the study of popular culture which have emerged from within the Marxist tradition in the last thirty years or so. These involve the Marxist theory of political economy, the Marxist structuralist theory of ideology associated with the work of Althusser, and the concept of hegemony derived from the writings of Gramsci.