A complex term of social and political theory, ideology may refer (and not exclusively) to a set of ideas held by a group of people, to ideas about social reality which are false (false consciousness), or to ideas, knowledges or practices which result in the reproduction of social relationships characterised by inequality or contradiction. It is thus a key term in sociologies of knowledge. Ideology has been found a useful concept in social archaeology and in critical archaeology (qv under critique) aiming at a critically self-reflexive discipline of archaeology aware of the location of archaeological knowledges in contemporary society.