Ideology
An ideology is a set of
The term was coined by
Etymology and history
The term ideology originates from
Hoping to form a secure foundation for the
A subsequent early source for the near-original meaning of ideology is
In the century following Tracy, the term ideology moved back and forth between positive and negative connotations. During this next generation, when post-Napoleonic governments adopted a
Definitions and analysis
There are many different kinds of ideologies, including
Studies of the concept of ideology itself (rather than specific ideologies) have been carried out under the name of
- As a collection of certain ideas with certain kinds of content, usually normative;
- As the form or internal logicalstructure that ideas have within a set;
- By the role ideas play in human-social interaction;
- By the role ideas play in the structure of an organization;
- As meaning, whose purpose is persuasion; and
- As the locus of social interaction.
For Willard A. Mullins, an ideology should be contrasted with the related (but different) issues of utopia and historical myth. An ideology is composed of four basic characteristics:[14]
- it must have power over cognition;
- it must be capable of guiding one's evaluations;
- it must provide guidance towards action; and
- it must be logically coherent.
Terry Eagleton outlines (more or less in no particular order) some definitions of ideology:[15]
- The process of production of meanings, signs and values in social life
- A body of ideas characteristic of a particular social group or class
- Ideas that help legitimate a dominant political power
- False ideas that help legitimate a dominant political power
- Systematically distorted communication
- Ideas that offer a position for a subject
- Forms of thought motivated by social interests
- Identity thinking
- Socially necessary illusion
- The conjuncture of discourse and power
- The medium in which conscious social actors make sense of their world
- Action-oriented sets of beliefs
- The confusion of linguistic and phenomenal reality
- Semiotic closure[15]: 197
- The indispensable medium in which individuals live out their relations to a social structure
- The process that converts social life to a natural reality
German philosopher Christian Duncker called for a "critical reflection of the ideology concept".[16] In his work, he strove to bring the concept of ideology into the foreground, as well as the closely connected concerns of epistemology and history, defining ideology in terms of a system of presentations that explicitly or implicitly claim to absolute truth.
Marxist interpretation
Marx's analysis sees ideology as a system of false consciousness that arises from the economic relationships, reflecting and perpetuating the interests of the dominant class.[17]
In the Marxist
The Marxist formulation of "ideology as an instrument of social reproduction" is conceptually important to the sociology of knowledge,[19] viz. Karl Mannheim, Daniel Bell, and Jürgen Habermas et al. Moreover, Mannheim has developed and progressed from the "total" but "special" Marxist conception of ideology to a "general" and "total" ideological conception acknowledging that all ideology (including Marxism) resulted from social life, an idea developed by the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Slavoj Žižek and the earlier Frankfurt School added to the "general theory" of ideology a psychoanalytic insight that ideologies do not include only conscious but also unconscious ideas.
Ideological state apparatuses (Althusser)
This section possibly contains original research. (February 2020) |
French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser proposed that ideology is "the imagined existence (or idea) of things as it relates to the real conditions of existence" and makes use of a lacunar discourse. A number of propositions, which are never untrue, suggest a number of other propositions, which are. In this way, the essence of the lacunar discourse is what is not told but is suggested. For example, the statement "All are equal before the law", which is a theoretical groundwork of current legal systems, suggests that all people may be of equal worth or have equal opportunities. This is not true, for the concept of private property and power over the means of production results in some people being able to own more (much more) than others. This power disparity contradicts the claim that all share both practical worth and future opportunity equally; for example, the rich can afford better legal representation, which practically privileges them before the law.
Althusser proffered the concept of the
Ideology and the Commodity (Debord)
The French Marxist theorist Guy Debord, founding member of the Situationist International, argued that when the commodity becomes the "essential category" of society, i.e. when the process of commodification has been consummated to its fullest extent, the image of society propagated by the commodity (as it describes all of life as constituted by notions and objects deriving their value only as commodities tradeable in terms of exchange value), colonizes all of life and reduces society to a mere representation, The Society of the Spectacle.[20]
Unifying agents (Hoffer)
The American philosopher Eric Hoffer identified several elements that unify followers of a particular ideology:[21]
- Hatred: "Mass movements can rise and spread without a God, but never without belief in a devil."[21] The "ideal devil" is a foreigner.[21]: 93
- Imitation: "The less satisfaction we derive from being ourselves, the greater is our desire to be like others…the more we mistrust our judgment and luck, the more are we ready to follow the example of others."[21]: 101–2
- Persuasion: The proselytizing zeal of propagandists derives from "a passionate search for something not yet found more than a desire to bestow something we already have."[21]: 110
- Coercion: Hoffer asserts that violence and communist beliefs become as fanatical as those who did the forcing. He says: "It takes fanatical faith to rationalize our cowardice."[21]: 107–8
- Leadership: Without the leader, there is no movement. Often the leader must wait long in the wings until the time is ripe. He calls for sacrifices in the present, to justify his vision of a breathtaking future. The skills required include: audacity, brazenness, iron will, fanatical conviction; passionate hatred, cunning, a delight in symbols; ability to inspire blind faith in the masses; and a group of able lieutenants.[21]: 112–4 Charlatanism is indispensable, and the leader often imitates both friend and foe, "a single-minded fashioning after a model." He will not lead followers towards the "promised land", but only "away from their unwanted selves".[21]: 116–9
- Action: Original thoughts are suppressed, and unity encouraged, if the masses are kept occupied through great projects, marches, exploration and industry.[21]: 120–1
- Suspicion: "There is prying and spying, tense watching and a tense awareness of being watched." This pathological mistrust goes unchallenged and encourages conformity, not dissent.[21]: 124
Ronald Inglehart
Ronald Inglehart of the University of Michigan is author of the World Values Survey, which, since 1980, has mapped social attitudes in 100 countries representing 90% of global population. Results indicate that where people live is likely to closely correlate with their ideological beliefs. In much of Africa, South Asia and the Middle East, people prefer traditional beliefs and are less tolerant of liberal values. Protestant Europe, at the other extreme, adheres more to secular beliefs and liberal values. Alone among high-income countries, the United States is exceptional in its adherence to traditional beliefs, in this case Christianity.
Political ideologies
In
Political ideologies have two dimensions:
- Goals: how society should work; and
- Methods: the most appropriate ways to achieve the ideal arrangement.
A political ideology largely concerns itself with how to allocate
There are many proposed methods for the classification of political ideologies. Ideologies can identify themselves by their position on the
Philosopher Michael Oakeshott defines single-issue ideologies as "the formalized abridgment of the supposed sub-stratum of the rational truth contained in the tradition". Moreover, Charles Blattberg offers an account that distinguishes political ideologies from political philosophies.[26]
Slavoj Žižek argues how the very notion of post-ideology can enable the deepest, blindest form of ideology. A sort of false consciousness or false cynicism, engaged in for the purpose of lending one's point of view the respect of being objective, pretending neutral cynicism, without truly being so. Rather than help avoiding ideology, this lapse only deepens the commitment to an existing one. Zizek calls this "a post-modernist trap".[27] Peter Sloterdijk advanced the same idea already in 1988.[28]
Studies have shown that political ideology is somewhat genetically heritable.[29][30][31][32][33][34][35]
Ideology and state
When a political ideology becomes a dominantly pervasive component within a government, one can speak of an ideocracy.[36] Different forms of government use ideology in various ways, not always restricted to politics and society. Certain ideas and schools of thought become favored, or rejected, over others, depending on their compatibility with or use for the reigning social order.
In
Epistemological ideologies
Even when the challenging of existing beliefs is encouraged, as in scientific theories, the dominant
Psychological explanations of ideology
A large amount of research in psychology is concerned with the causes, consequences and content of ideology,[45][46][47] with humans being dubbed the "ideological animal" by Althusser.[48]: 269 Many theories have tried to explain the existence of ideology in human societies.[48]: 269
Jost, Ledgerwood, and Hardin (2008) propose that ideologies may function as prepackaged units of
Terror management theory posits that ideology is used as a defence mechanism against threats to their worldview which in turn protect and individuals sense of self-esteem and reduce their awareness of mortality. Evidence shows that priming individuals with an awareness of mortality does not cause individuals to respond in ways underpinned by any particular ideology, but rather the ideology that they are currently aware of.[48]: 271
Ideology and the social sciences
Semiotic theory
According to semiotician Bob Hodge:[51]
[Ideology] identifies a unitary object that incorporates complex sets of meanings with the social agents and processes that produced them. No other term captures this object as well as 'ideology'. Foucault's 'episteme' is too narrow and abstract, not social enough. His 'discourse', popular because it covers some of ideology's terrain with less baggage, is too confined to verbal systems. 'Worldview' is too metaphysical, 'propaganda' too loaded. Despite or because of its contradictions, 'ideology' still plays a key role in semiotics oriented to social, political life.
Authors such as Michael Freeden have also recently incorporated a semantic analysis to the study of ideologies.
Sociology
Sociologists define ideology as "cultural beliefs that justify particular social arrangements, including patterns of inequality".[52] Dominant groups use these sets of cultural beliefs and practices to justify the systems of inequality that maintain their group's social power over non-dominant groups. Ideologies use a society's symbol system to organize social relations in a hierarchy, with some social identities being superior to other social identities, which are considered inferior. The dominant ideology in a society is passed along through the society's major social institutions, such as the media, the family, education, and religion.[53] As societies changed throughout history, so did the ideologies that justified systems of inequality.[52]
Sociological examples of ideologies include racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and ethnocentrism.[53]
Quotations
- "We do not need…to believe in an ideology. All that is necessary is for each of us to develop our good human qualities. The need for a sense of universal responsibility affects every aspect of modern life." — Dalai Lama[54]
- "The function of ideology is to stabilize and perpetuate dominance through masking or illusion." — Sally Haslanger[55]
- "[A]n ideology differs from a simple opinion in that it claims to possess either the key to history, or the solution for all the 'riddles of the universe,' or the intimate knowledge of the hidden universal laws, which are supposed to rule nature and man." — Hannah Arendt[56]
See also
- The Anatomy of Revolution
- Capitalism
- Dogma
- Feminism
- Hegemony
- -ism
- List of communist ideologies
- List of ideologies named after people
- Ideocracy
- Noble lie
- Politicisation
- Social criticism
- Socially constructed reality
- State collapse
- State ideology of the Soviet Union
- The True Believer
- World Values Survey
- World view
References
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- ^ "ideology". Lexico. Archived from the original on 2020-02-11.
- ^ Cranston, Maurice. [1999] 2014. "Ideology Archived 2020-06-09 at the Wayback Machine" (revised). Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ a b van Dijk, T. A. (2006). "Politics, Ideology, and Discourse" (PDF). Discourse in Society. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
- ISBN 978-1-4443-1105-1. Archivedfrom the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
- ^ JSTOR 2709242.
- ^ de Tracy, Antoine Destutt. [1801] 1817. Les Éléments d'idéologie, (3rd ed.). p. 4, as cited in Mannheim, Karl. 1929. "The problem of 'false consciousness.'" In Ideologie und Utopie. 2nd footnote.
- ^ Eagleton, Terry (1991) Ideology. An introduction, Verso, p. 2
- ^ Tucker, Robert C (1978). The Marx-Engels Reader, W. W. Norton & Company, p. 3.
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- ^ Marx, Karl (1978a). "The German Ideology: Part I", The Marx-Engels Reader 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
- ^ In this discipline, there are lexical disputes over the meaning of the word "ideology" ("false consciousness" as advocated by Marx, or rather "false position" of a statement in itself is correct but irrelevant in the context in which it is produced, as in Max Weber's opinion): Buonomo, Giampiero (2005). "Eleggibilità più ampia senza i paletti del peculato d'uso? Un'occasione (perduta) per affrontare il tema delle leggi ad personam". Diritto&Giustizia Edizione Online. Archived from the original on 2016-03-24.[dead link]
- ^ Guy Debord (1995). The Society of the Spectacle. Zone Books.
- ^ et seq.
- ^ Bell, D. 2000. The End of Ideology: On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 393.
- ^ Fukuyama, Francis. 1992. The End of History and the Last Man. New York: Free Press. p. xi.
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- ^ Cloninger, et al. (1993).
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- ISBN 978-0-7914-2297-7. Archivedfrom the original on 2021-04-13. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
- ^ Brinton, Crane. 1938. "Chapter 2." The Anatomy of Revolution.
- ^ Brinton, Crane. 1938. "Chapter 6." The Anatomy of Revolution.
- ^ Brinton, Crane. 1938. "Chapter 8." The Anatomy of Revolution.
- ^ Fulbright, J. William. 1967. The Arrogance of Power. ch. 3–7.
- ^ Hoffer, Eric. 1951. The True Believer. ch. 15–17.
- ^ Gibson, James J. (1979). The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Taylor & Francis.
- ^ Lakoff, George (2000). Where Mathematics Comes From: How the Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics Into Being. Basic Books.
- ^ Madsen, Peter. "Deep Ecology". Britannica. Archived from the original on 2021-04-13. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
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- ^ a b c Jost, John T., Alison Ledgerwood, and Curtis D. Hardin. 2008. "Shared reality, system justification, and the relational basis of ideological beliefs." pp. 171–186 in Social and Personality Psychology Compass 2.
- ^ a b Lee S. Dimin (2011). Corporatocracy: A Revolution in Progress. p. 140.
- ^ Hodge, Bob. "Ideology Archived 2008-09-05 at the Wayback Machine." Semiotics Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
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- ^ Bunson, Matthew, ed. 1997. The Dalai Lama's Book of Wisdom. Ebury Press. p. 180.
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