Despite these different variations , Marx argues that ,in reality , there only exists one American ideology of space . According to Marx , primitivism never established the conceptual basis for an independent ideology , and only a very modest part of the American population has adopted it a guide for their behavior. Apart from its motivation on various environmental movements, its actual consequences are easily overlooked. In contrast, both the progressive and pastoral ideals have had a great influence throughout American history, in which their mutual tensions repeatedly and persistently have manifested themselves. Although the two ideals, in principle, are ultimately irreconcilable , this logical contradistinction has, in practice, been relatively easy to conceal and ignore. In this way, Marx believes that a fusion between the progressive and pastoral ideals has emerged a single ideology , which embraces their recurring contradistinctions both in discourse and practice (Marx 1964).