Traditionally, Ghanaian weddings functioned as modest, communal rites of passage that reinforced kinship solidarity, spirituality, and collective responsibility. In the past two decades, however, they have been reconfigured into elaborate, highly commercialisesed spectacles. This study critically examines this transformation through a Marxist theory of ideology, with particular attention to commodity fetishism, the culture industry, and Althusser’s concept of Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs). The study's primary objective is to explore how dominant capitalist ideologies are constructed, performed, and legitimisesed in contemporary Ghanaian weddings. Specific objectives are (1) to investigate how class distinctions and social status are performed and reproduced through wedding practices. The study adopts a qualitative critical inquiry grounded in systematic non-participant observation of contemporary wedding ceremonies in urban Ghana, complemented by critical discourse analysis of wedding-related media representations and secondary literature. The Marxist Ideological Critique was used to analyse the data thematically. Findings show that combining traditional symbols (such as kente, knocking rites, and bride price) with modern luxury aesthetics (designer branding, professionalisesed planning, and curated social media performance) facilitates the commodification of culture. Wedding consumption operates as conspicuous display and sign-value, masking labour relations and naturalizing economic inequality. In this way, the contemporary Ghanaian wedding functions as an ideological apparatus that reproduces class hegemony, legitimiseses elite status, and engenders a form of false consciousness that equates material expenditure with moral and social legitimacy. The study contributes to critical cultural studies in postcolonial Africa by moving beyond descriptive anthropology to theorisese weddings as sites of ideological labour and capitalist reproduction. Read more

This sociological inquiry applies Marxist ideology to evaluate learning management inequality in Sierra Leonean primary and secondary academies. Imaging on the essential analysis of Karl Henrich Marx and later sociologists like Althusser, Picketty, the inquiry argues that Sierra Leone’s learning structure extensively produces class-based differences deep-seated in wider socio-economic considerations. Utilizing a theoretical approach and interpretative case studies like aristocratic urban establishments and underfunded suburban academies, the inquiry emphasizes how curriculum plan, opinionative communicating and unequal opportunities to social resources overly service learners from wealthy upbringings. The examination produces that while Sierra Leone's post-independence transformations outstretched access to social learning, they overlooked to handle stubborn systemic social inequalities. The learning structure persists to function as an ideological and potential force for class reprint, corresponding with capitalist labor requirements and preserving aristocratic domination. Despite Marxist ideology has barriers, specifically in justifying other alternatives of identity-centric segregation like gender and ethnicity; it stays an effective methodology for questioning learning social inequity in subaltern cultural societies. The research completes with suggestions for impartial resource allocation, curriculum revision, and the upgrading of critical pedagogy to promote a further all-embracing and socially equal learning structure. Read more

George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945) remains one of the most influential political allegories in modern literature. While the novella has traditionally been interpreted as a satirical representation of the Russian Revolution and the emergence of Stalinism, contemporary scholarship increasingly recognizes its broader significance as a critique of political power, ideological manipulation, and social inequality. This article re-examines Animal Farm as a timeless reflection of societal dynamics rather than merely a historical allegory. Drawing on Marxist theory, Gramscian hegemony, Foucauldian discourse analysis, and Althusser’s concept of ideological state apparatuses, the study analyses how Orwell’s narrative exposes the corruption of revolutionary ideals, the manipulation of language and propaganda, and the reproduction of class hierarchy. Integrating recent scholarship on political discourse and ideological control, the article argues that Orwell’s allegorical narrative provides enduring insights into contemporary political systems characterized by propaganda, misinformation, and authoritarian populism. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that Animal Farm continues to serve as a powerful literary framework for understanding the cyclical nature of political power and the vulnerability of societies to ideological domination. Read more

Daily conversations are charged with nuances of symbolic power, evenly or asymmetrically distributed, shaping social relationships between groups or individuals. This sociolinguistic inquiry examines top-down and bottom-up power dynamics, manipulation and resistance in Bole Butake’s Dance of the Vampires, a political play portraying a monarch who sacrifices his people for the quest of absolute power. The study is a trimodal investigation which extends beyond the usual monolithic treatment of language-power relationships by including manipulation and resistance in power dynamics analysis. Power dynamics, manipulation and resistance variations in the examined play were analysed through the lens of Foucault’s social theory of power and Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive framework. The content analysis method was used to analyse selected power variables. The findings reveal that power exercise among characters in the scrutinized play is multifold. Power dynamics variations in top-down relationships express power asymmetry manifested through critiques, honorifics, commands, royal proclamation, destitution decree, signature and seal, questioning, warning, threat and conditioning. Resistance to power hierarchy in bottom-up relationships is exercised through disapproval of orders, arrest and destitution of the ruler. Manipulation is orchestrated by the monarch to control the thoughts of his subordinates, using devices such as corruption and gaslighting. It emerges from the writer’s political ideology that social contract, collectivism and egalitarianism should guide political rulers in governance. The study concludes that the language of power in creative writing reflects hierarchical and top-down models’ power in intergroup communication and institutional structures. Read more

Terrorism is a phenomenon that is becoming a pervasive, often dominant, influence in our lives. It constitutes one of the most serious threats to global security. Nigeria had a full blown taste of long time terrorism since 2009 founded by Mohammed Yusuf. The group Jama’atu ahlis sunna lidda’awati wal-jihad has continued to carry out acts of terror which has resulted to loss of over twenty thousand lives, kidnap of several school girls and women as sex slaves, the displacement of more than two million people and the destruction of properties worth billions. It is clear that the activities of Boko Haram represent the greatest threat to Nigerian state. The above situation has triggered a suspicion among Christian and Muslims in Nigeria. The situation had also divided Nigerians along religious lines. For example, Ibrahim observed that apart from academic views concerning the teaching of the group, there is also a huge debate and conflicting conspiracy theories going on among Nigerians concerning Boko Haram and its activities. Many southern commentators saw Boko Haram as conspiracy of northern politicians to destabilize the government of the president Godluck Jonathan and vis visa. Read more

Critical discourse analysis explores the impact of language on social practices and how society is, in turn, shaped by language. It examines how the social indices of identity, inequality, injustice, ideology, power, dominance and resistance interface with text and discourse to achieve social stability. This paper analyzes Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah's 2022 Easter message from the standpoint of critical discourse analysis and examines the implications of the social structures articulated in the text to national cohesion. From this study, it is found that language is a constituent of society and that by studying the forms of language, one reveals the social processes and the specific ideologies embedded in them. Read more

This article examines the television documentary Chinese People in Africa (2016), as part of the official Chinese efforts to enhance China’s image in media and communication, for both the domestic and the international audiences. The determined, hard-working, self-relying individuals engaged in wild life conservation, peace-keeping, non-governmental organization service etc., offer typical neoliberal subject figures that reform-era China up till the 2010s tries to make of Chinese citizens. To the extent that the show’s value orientation fails to register the leftward ideological turn ensued by an actual leadership power transfer well before the show’s production, the documentary is also a good example of ideological tenacity in the field of cultural production. Read more