|
An ideology is a collection of ideas. The word ideology was coined by Count Destutt de Tracy in the late 18th century to define a "science of ideas." An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things (compare Weltanschauung), as in common sense (see Ideology in everyday society) and several philosphical tendencies (see Political ideologies), or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to all members of this society (the Marxist definition of ideology - see Ideology as an instrument of social reproduction).
Ideology in everyday society Every society has an ideology that forms the basis of the "public opinion" or common sense, a basis that usually remains invisible to most people within the society. This dominant ideology appears as "neutral", while all others that differ from the norm are often seen as radical, no matter what the actual vision may be. The philosopher Michel Foucault wrote about this concept of apparent ideological neutrality.
Organisations that strive for power influence the ideology of a society to become what they want it to be. Political organisations (governments included) and other groups (e.g. lobbyists) try to influence people by broadcasting their opinions, which is the reason why so often many people in a society seem to "think alike".
When most people in a society think alike about certain matters, or even forget that there are alternatives to the current state of affairs, we arrive at the concept of Hegemony, about which the philosopher Antonio Gramsci wrote. The much smaller scale concept of groupthink also owes something to his work.
Modern linguists study the mechanism of conceptual metaphor, by which this 'thinking alike' is thought to be transmitted
Political ideologies There are many different kinds of ideology: political, social, epistemological, ethical, and so on.
In social studies, a political ideology is a set of ideas and principles that explain how the society should work, and offer the blueprint for a certain social order. A political ideology largely concerns itself with how to allocate power and to what ends it should be used.
The communist theories of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and their followers, often known as marxism, are regarded as one of the most influential and well-defined political ideologies of the 20th century. However, Marx and Engels himself repeatedly denounced ideology in general, describing it in terms such as "false consciousness", by which they meant that it was a belief that did not reflect historical materialist circumstances.
Other examples of ideologies include: anarchism, capitalism, Communitarianism, corporate liberalism, christian democracy, fascism, monarchism, nationalism, nazism, conservativism, liberalism, socialism, and social-democracy. Ideology studied as ideology (rather than examples of specific ideologies) has been carried out under the name systematic ideology. See also "capitalism as an ideology", a section of the article on capitalism.
The popularity of an ideology is in part due to the influence of moral entrepreneurs, who sometimes act in their own interests. A political ideology is the body of ideals, principles, doctrine, myth or symbols of a social movement, institution, class, or large group that references some political and cultural plan. It can be a construct of political thought, often defining political parties and their policy.
A certain ethic usually forms the basis of an ideology.
Epistemological ideologies Even when the challenging of existing beliefs is encouraged, as in science, the dominant paradigm or mindset can prevent certain challenges, theories or experiments from being advanced. The philosophy of science mostly concerns itself with reducing the impact of these prior ideologies so that science can proceed with its primary task, which is (according to science) to create knowledge.
There are critics who view science as an ideology in itself, called scientism. Some scientists respond that, while the scientific method is itself an ideology, as it is a collection of ideas, there is nothing particularly wrong or bad about it.
Other critics point out that while science itself is not a misleading ideology, there are some fields of study within science that are misleading. Two examples discussed here are in the fields of ecology and economics.
A special case of science adopted as ideology is that of ecology, which studies the relationships between living things on Earth. Perceptual psychologist J. J. Gibson believed that human perception of ecological relationships was the basis of self-awareness and cognition itself. Linguist George Lakoff has proposed a cognitive science of mathematics wherein even the most fundamental ideas of arithmetic would be seen as consequences or products of human perception - which is itself necessarily evolved within an ecology.
Deep ecology and the modern ecology movement (and, to a lesser degree, Green parties) appear to have adopted ecological sciences as a positive ideology.
Some accuse ecological economics of likewise turning scientific theory into political economy, although theses in that science can often be tested. The modern practice of green economics fuses both approaches and seems to be part science, part ideology.
This is far from the only theory of economics to be raised to ideology status - some notable economically-based ideologies include mercantilism, social darwinism, communism, laissez-faire economics, and "free trade". There are also current theories of safe trade and fair trade which can be seen as ideologies.
Ideology as an instrument of social reproduction Karl Marx proposed a base/superstructure model of society. The base refers to the means of production of society. The superstructure is formed on top of the base, and comprises that society's ideology, as well as its legal system, political system, and religions. Marx proposed that the base determines the superstructure. It is the ruling class that controls the society's means of production - and thus the superstructure of society, including its ideology, will be determined according to what is in the ruling class' best interests. On the other hand, critics of the Marxist approach feel that it attributes too much importance to economic factors in influencing society.
The ideologies of the dominant class of a society are proposed to all members of that society in order to make the ruling class' interests appear to be the interests of all, and thereby achieve hegemony. To reach this goal, ideology makes use of a special type of discourse: the lacunar discourse, as discussed by Althusser. 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 theory behind current legal systems, suggests that all people may be of equal worth or have equal 'opportunities'. This is not true, because the concept of private property over the means of production results in some people being able to own more (much more) than others, and their property brings power and influence (the rich can afford better lawyers, among other things, and this puts in question the principle of equality before the law).
The dominant forms of ideology in capitalism are (in chronological order):
- classical liberalism
- social democracy
- neo-liberalism
and they correspond to the stages of development of capitalism: - extensive stage
- intensive stage
- contemporary capitalism (or late capitalism, or current crisis)
Bibliography - A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism and Philology (http:www.unizar.es/departamentos/filologia_inglesa/garciala/bibliography.html) (by José Ángel García Landa, University of Zaragoza, Spain. See: Ideology, Ideology and Literature, Ideology and Criticism, Ideology and Film, Ideology and Fiction, Ideology and Drama, Marxist criticism, Feminist criticism.
References
See also Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: |
Feeds |
Contact