Ideology and identity

Abstract

The present text offers a self-reflection on the centrality that the concepts of "ideology" and "identity" have had in the development of my theoretical work in sociology. I review my early link with Marxism in the context of the socialist effervescence of the 1970s in Chile, as well as the impact that years of study and work in the UK had on my thinking. Not only for the reconsideration of the concept of idealogy but also for the rediscovery of the problem of modernity in Latin America and the formation of cultural identity. On the basis of this brief personal history, I reflect on the operation of the concepts of ideology and identity as keys to understanding post-dictatorship Chile.