Williams and Sarah Cole

For the Raymond Williams reading, a particular part that helped bring everything together was, “Consciousness is seen from the beginning as part of the human material social process, and its products in ‘ideas’ are then as much part of this process as material products themselves.”

Williams here seems to be outlining the whole idea of Marx’s argument. Before this statement, Williams quotes Marx saying that a labour process exists in the imagination prior to creation. Consciousness, or the idea of thought is what is there in a society to begin with. The social process, which could mean forming groups of people relates to ideology of the group. This is always there and exists from the beginning of social groups. There for, the products that this mind set creates also becomes part of a material social process. This idea also seems to be rooted in Marx’s idea of labour. Consciousness and all that it entails is what is initially driving social processes. Williams does not view the existence of ideology (which seems to stem from Marx’s ideas of labour and thought) as a false consciousness, but filled with abstraction. The ideology or consciousness that has always existed (as have social processes) is not so much a product, but something that is inevitably tied to being human and being part of this “human group”. What we produce through thought and ideas can be deemed simply as culture and language. Williams does seem to give in to the idea that ideology presents a question of illusion and abstraction perhaps coming from the fact that all things we have produced as a society have been based on material social processes.

For the story of Sarah Cole, a Marxist reading might focus on placement in society. From the beginning, Sarah is said to be one of the homeliest girls. She is ideal for depiction of the working class. She works on an assembly line, packing tv guides and is dressed in a cowboy hat and boots just as her friends are. The fact that she is hanging out with the same kind of people shows a stagnation in social class. Even when her friends question going to the bar where Ron is, Sarah asks why there should be any difference. Right from the beginning, a Marxist would claim that the relationship between Ron and Sarah is doomed to failure. The kind of car she drives, her home, and just her overall life style immediately prevent her from having a life like Ron and being able to be involved with him romantically. Sarah’s relationship with her drunken husband also points to Marxist ideas because as her friend says, "Oh, you know, about water seeking its own level." Sarah cannot be with Ron as he is in such a higher class above her and what she is accustomed to. Playing into this idea of Marxism and Ron allowing himself to take her away from herself, deny her love based on class difference and the fact that it can never work between them. Social placement has become such a dominate idea that the class you belong to defines who you are. In turn, Ron is denying her and truly in a sense, “has killed her.”