There are many different kinds of ideologies, including
political,
social,
epistemological, and
ethical. Recent analysis tends to posit that
ideology is a 'coherent system of ideas' that rely on a few basic assumptions about reality that may or may not have any factual basis. Through this system, ideas become coherent, repeated patterns through the
subjective ongoing choices that people make. These ideas serve as the seed around which further
thought grows. The belief in an ideology can range from passive acceptance up to fervent advocacy. Definitions, such as by
Manfred Steger and
Paul James, emphasize both the issue of patterning and
contingent claims to truth. They wrote: "Ideologies are patterned clusters of normatively imbued ideas and concepts, including particular representations of power relations. These conceptual maps help people navigate the complexity of their political universe and carry claims to social truth." Studies of the concept of ideology itself (rather than specific ideologies) have been carried out under the name of
systematic ideology in the works of George Walford and Harold Walsby, who attempt to explore the relationships between ideology and
social systems. David W. Minar describes six different ways the word
ideology has been used: • As a collection of certain ideas with certain kinds of
content, usually
normative; • As the
form or internal logical structure 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: • 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: • 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 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 lay claim to absolute truth.
Marxist interpretation posits that a society's dominant ideology is integral to its superstructure. Marx's analysis sees ideology as a system of consciousness that arises from economic relationships, reflecting and perpetuating the interests of the dominant class. In the Marxist
base and superstructure model of society,
base denotes the
relations of production and
modes of production, and
superstructure denotes the
dominant ideology (i.e. religious, legal, political systems). The economic base of production determines the political superstructure of a society. Ruling
class-interests determine the superstructure and the nature of the justifying ideology—actions feasible because the
ruling class control the
means of production. For example, in a
feudal mode of production, religious ideology is the most prominent aspect of the superstructure, while in capitalist formations, ideologies such as
liberalism and
social democracy dominate. Hence the great importance of ideology justifies a society and politically confuses the alienated groups of society via
false consciousness. Some explanations have been presented.
Antonio Gramsci uses
cultural hegemony to explain why the
working-class have a false ideological conception of what their best interests are. Marx argued: "The class which has the means of material production at its disposal has control at the same time over the means of mental production." The Marxist formulation of "ideology as an instrument of social reproduction" is conceptually important to the
sociology of knowledge, 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.
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.
Unifying agents (Hoffer) The American philosopher
Eric Hoffer identified several elements that unify followers of a particular ideology: • Hatred: "Mass movements can rise and spread without a
God, but never without belief in a
devil." The "ideal devil" is a foreigner. • 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." • 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." • Coercion: Hoffer asserts that violence and
fanaticism are interdependent. People forcibly converted to
Islamic or
communist beliefs become as fanatical as those who did the forcing. He says: "It takes fanatical faith to rationalize our cowardice." • 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.
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". • Action: Original thoughts are suppressed, and unity encouraged, if the masses are kept occupied through great projects, marches, exploration and industry. • 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.
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==