Ideology

File:Antoine-Louis-Claude Destutt de Tracy.png coined the term ideology.]]

The term ideology originates from French {{lang | fr | idéologie}}, itself coined from combining {{Langx|el|idéā|italic=yes}} ({{Langx|grc|ἰδέα|label= none|lit= notion, pattern}}; close to the Lockean sense of idea) and -logíā ({{Langx|grc|-λογῐ́ᾱ|label= none|lit= the study of}}).

The term "ideology" and the system of ideas associated with it were developed in 1796 by Antoine Destutt de Tracy (1754-1836), who crystallised his ideas while in prison (November 1793 to October 1794) pending trial during the Reign of Terror of {{circa | 1793}} to July 1794. While imprisoned he read the works of Locke and Étienne Bonnot de Condillac.{{cite book|last1= Vincent|first1= Andrew|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=igrwb3rsOOUC&pg=PA1|title= Modern Political Ideologies|date= 2009|publisher= John Wiley & Sons|isbn= 978-1-4443-1105-1|page= 1|language= en|access-date= 7 May 2020|archive-date= 3 August 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200803163747/https://books.google.com/books?id=igrwb3rsOOUC&pg=PA1|url-status= live}}

Hoping to form a secure foundation for the moral and political sciences, Tracy devised the term for a "science of ideas", basing such upon two things: (1) the sensations that people experience as they interact with the material world; and (2) the ideas that form in their minds due to those sensations. Tracy conceived of ideology as a liberal philosophy that would defend individual liberty, property, free markets, and constitutional limits on state power. He argues that, among these aspects, ideology is the most generic term because the 'science of ideas' also contains the study of their expression and deduction. The coup d'état that overthrew Maximilien Robespierre in July 1794 allowed Tracy to pursue his work.{{cite journal |last= Kennedy |first= Emmet |date= Jul–Sep 1979 |title= "Ideology" from Destutt De Tracy to Marx |journal= Journal of the History of Ideas |volume= 40 |issue= 3 |pages= 353–368 |jstor= 2709242 |doi= 10.2307/2709242 }}{{request quotation|date=January 2025}} Tracy reacted to the terroristic phase of the revolution (during the Napoleonic regime of 1799 to 1815 as part of the Napoleonic Wars){{clarify | reason = The Reign of Terror of 1793 to 1794 preceded the Napoleonic Era (1799-1815)|date=January 2025}} by trying to work out a rational system of ideas to oppose the irrational mob-impulses that had nearly destroyed him.

A subsequent early source for the near-original meaning of ideology is Hippolyte Taine's work on the Ancien Régime, Origins of Contemporary France ({{langx | fr | Les Origines de la France Contemporaine}}) volume I (1875). He describes ideology as rather like teaching philosophy via the Socratic method, though without extending the vocabulary beyond what the general reader already possessed, and without the examples from observation that practical science would require. Taine identifies it not just with Tracy but also with his milieu, and includes Condillac as one of its precursors.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) came to view ideology as a term of abuse, which he often hurled against his liberal foes in Tracy's Institut national.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} According to Karl Mannheim's historical reconstruction of the shifts in the meaning of ideology, the modern meaning of the word was born when Napoleon used it to describe his opponents as "the ideologues".{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} Tracy's major book, The Elements of Ideology ({{langx | fr | Élémens d'idéologie}}, published 1804-1815), was soon translated into major European languages.

In the century following Tracy's formulations, the term ideology moved back and forth between positive and negative connotations. When post-Napoleonic governments adopted a reactionary stance, the concept influenced the Italian, Spanish and Russian thinkers who had begun to describe themselves as liberals and who attempted to reignite revolutionary activity in the early 1820s, including the Carbonari societies in France and Italy and the Decembrists in Russia. Karl Marx (1818-1883) adopted Napoleon's negative sense of the term, using it in his writings, in which he once described Tracy as a {{Langx|de|text=fischblütige Bourgeoisdoktrinär|label= none}} (a "fish-blooded bourgeois doctrinaire").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. The term has since dropped some of its pejorative sting (euphemism treadmill), and has become a neutral term in the analysis of differing political opinions and views of social groups.Eagleton, Terry (1991) Ideology. An introduction, Verso, p. 2 While Marx situated the term within class struggle and domination,Tucker, Robert C (1978). The Marx-Engels Reader, W. W. Norton & Company, p. 3.Marx, MER, p. 154 others believed it was a necessary part of institutional functioning and social integration.Susan Silbey, [http://www.credoreference.com/entry/cupsoc/ideology "Ideology"]. {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210601042925/https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/cupsoc/ideology/0 |date= 2021-06-01 }}. Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology.

In parallel with post-Soviet Russian ideas about the mono-ideologies of (for example) monotheism, Walter Brueggemann (1933- ) has examined "ideological extension" in historical religious/political contexts.

{{cite book

|last1 = Brueggemann

|first1 = Walter

|author-link1 = Walter Brueggemann

|editor-last1 = Brueggemann

|editor-first1 = Walter

|editor-link1 = Walter Brueggemann

|editor-last2 = Stroup

|editor-first2 = George W.

|editor-link2 = George Stroup

|date = 1 January 1998

|chapter = 'Exodus' in the Plural (Amos 9:7)

|title = Many Voices, One God: Being Faithful in a Pluralistic World : in Honor of Shirley Guthrie

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9I0HRC46744C

|location = Louisville, Kentucky

|publisher = Westminster John Knox Press

|pages = 16, 28

|isbn = 9780664257576

|access-date = 6 January 2025

|quote = [...] ideological extension of the 'onlyness' of Yahweh to include the 'onlyness' of Israel, which I shall term mono-ideology. [...] As Deuteronomy is a main force for mono-ideology in ancient Judaism, so it is possible to conclude that Calvinism has been a primary force for mono-ideology in modern Christian history because of its insistence upon God's sovereignty, which is very often allied with socioeconomic-political hegemony.

}}

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."James, Paul, and Manfred Steger. 2010. [https://www.academia.edu/4510893 Globalization and Culture, Vol. 4: Ideologies of Globalism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429234210/https://www.academia.edu/4510893/Globalization_and_Culture_Vol._4_Ideologies_of_Globalism_2010_ |date=2020-04-29 }}. London: Sage.

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.{{Example needed|date=February 2019}} David W. Minar describes six different ways the word ideology has been used:Minar, David W. 1961. "Ideology and Political Behavior." Midwest Journal of Political Science 5(4):317–31. {{doi|10.2307/2108991}}. {{JSTOR|2108991}}.

1. As a collection of certain ideas with certain kinds of content, usually normative;
2. As the form or internal logical structure that ideas have within a set;
3. By the role ideas play in human-social interaction;
4. By the role ideas play in the structure of an organization;
5. As meaning, whose purpose is persuasion; and
6. 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:Mullins, Willard A. 1972. "On the Concept of Ideology in Political Science." American Political Science Review 66(2):498–510. {{doi|10.2307/1957794}}.

1. it must have power over cognition;
2. it must be capable of guiding one's evaluations;
3. it must provide guidance towards action; and
4. it must be logically coherent.

Terry Eagleton outlines (more or less in no particular order) some definitions of ideology:Eagleton, Terry. 1991. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Jk2h8zoHfcIC Ideology: An Introduction] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601042911/https://books.google.com/books?id=Jk2h8zoHfcIC&hl=en |date=2021-06-01 }}. Verso. {{ISBN|0-86091-319-8}}.

1. The process of production of meanings, signs and values in social life
2. A body of ideas characteristic of a particular social group or class
3. Ideas that help legitimate a dominant political power
4. False ideas that help legitimate a dominant political power
5. Systematically distorted communication
6. Ideas that offer a position for a subject
7. Forms of thought motivated by social interests
8. Identity thinking
9. Socially necessary illusion
10. The conjuncture of discourse and power
11. The medium in which conscious social actors make sense of their world
12. Action-oriented sets of beliefs
13. The confusion of linguistic and phenomenal reality
14. Semiotic closure{{Rp|197}}
15. The indispensable medium in which individuals live out their relations to a social structure
16. The process that converts social life to a natural reality

German philosopher Christian Duncker called for a "critical reflection of the ideology concept"."[https://web.archive.org/web/20110701015904/http://www.ideologieforschung.de/web/Christian_Duncker.html Christian Duncker]" (in German). Ideologie Forschung. 2006. 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.

File:Karl Marx 001 (3x4 cropped).jpg posits that a society's dominant ideology is integral to its superstructure.]]

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.{{cite book |last1=Marx |first1=Karl |last2=Engels |first2=Friedrich |date=1974 |title=The German Ideology. [Students Edition] |chapter=I. Feuerbach: Opposition of the Materialist and Idealist Outlooks |pages=64{{hyphen}}68 |publisher=Lawrence & Wishart |isbn=9780853152170}}

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."{{cite book|last=Marx|first=Karl|title="The German Ideology: Part I", The Marx-Engels Reader 2nd ed.|year=1978a|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|location=New York}}

The Marxist formulation of "ideology as an instrument of social reproduction" is conceptually important to the sociology of knowledge,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): {{cite journal|last1=Buonomo|first1=Giampiero|title=Eleggibilità più ampia senza i paletti del peculato d'uso? Un'occasione (perduta) per affrontare il tema delle leggi ad personam|journal=Diritto&Giustizia Edizione Online|date=2005|url=https://www.questia.com/projects#!/project/89394794|access-date=|archive-date=2016-03-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324160801/https://www.questia.com/projects#!/project/89394794|url-status=}} 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.

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.{{cite book|title=The Society of the Spectacle|publisher=Zone Books|author=Guy Debord|year=1995}}

The American philosopher Eric Hoffer identified several elements that unify followers of a particular ideology:Hoffer, Eric. 1951. The True Believer. Harper Perennial. p. 91, et seq.

1. Hatred: "Mass movements can rise and spread without a God, but never without belief in a devil." The "ideal devil" is a foreigner.{{Rp|93}}
2. 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."{{Rp|101–2}}
3. 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."{{Rp|110}}
4. 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."{{Rp|107–8}}
5. 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.{{Rp|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".{{Rp|116–9}}
6. Action: Original thoughts are suppressed, and unity encouraged, if the masses are kept occupied through great projects, marches, exploration and industry.{{Rp|120–1}}
7. 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.{{Rp|124}}

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.

{{See also|List of political ideologies}}

In political science, a political ideology is a certain ethical set of ideals, principles, doctrines, myths, or symbols of a social movement, institution, class, or large group that explains how society should work, offering some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order. Political ideologies are concerned with many different aspects of a society, including but not limited to: the economy, the government, the environment, education, health care, labor law, criminal law, the justice system, social security and welfare, public policy and administration, foreign policy, rights, freedoms and duties, citizenship, immigration, culture and national identity, military administration, and religion.

Political ideologies have two dimensions:

1. Goals: how society should work; and
2. Methods: the most appropriate ways to achieve the ideal arrangement.

A political ideology largely concerns itself with how to allocate power and to what ends power should be used. Some parties follow a certain ideology very closely, while others may take broad inspiration from a group of related ideologies without specifically embracing any one of them. Each political ideology contains certain ideas on what it considers the best form of government (e.g., democracy, demagogy, theocracy, caliphate etc.), scope of government (e.g. authoritarianism, libertarianism, federalism, etc.) and the best economic system (e.g. capitalism, socialism, etc.). Sometimes the same word is used to identify both an ideology and one of its main ideas. For instance, socialism may refer to an economic system, or it may refer to an ideology that supports that economic system. Post 1991, many commentators claim that we are living in a post-ideological age,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. in which redemptive, all-encompassing ideologies have failed. This view is often associated with Francis Fukuyama's writings on the end of history.Fukuyama, Francis. 1992. The End of History and the Last Man. New York: Free Press. p. xi. Contrastly, Nienhueser (2011) sees research (in the field of human resource management) as ongoingly "generating ideology".{{cite journal |last1=Nienhueser |first1=Werner |date=October 2011 |title=Empirical Research on Human Resource Management as a Production of Ideology |journal=Management Revue |publisher=Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=367–393 |doi=10.5771/0935-9915-2011-4-367 |issn=0935-9915 |quote=[...] current empirical research in HRM is generating ideology. |doi-access=free |jstor=41783697 |s2cid=17746690}}

There are many proposed methods for the classification of political ideologies. Ideologies can identify themselves by their position on the political spectrum (e.g. left, center, or right). They may also be distinguished by single issues around which they may be built (e.g. civil libertarianism, support or opposition to European integration, legalization of marijuana). They may also be distinguished by political strategies (e.g. populism, personalism). The classification of political ideology is difficult, however, due to cultural relativity in definitions. For example, "what Americans now call conservatism much of the world calls liberalism or neoliberalism"; a conservatism in Finland would be labeled socialism in the United States.{{Cite journal |last=Ribuffo |first=Leo P. |author-link=Leo P. Ribuffo |date=January 2011 |title=Twenty Suggestions for Studying the Right Now that Studying the Right Is Trendy |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/409734 |journal=Historically Speaking |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=2–6 |doi=10.1353/hsp.2011.0013 |issn=1944-6438 |s2cid=144367661}}

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.{{cite journal |last=Blattberg |first=Charles |date=2009 |title=Political Philosophies and Political Ideologies |url=https://philpapers.org/archive/BLAPPA-2.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601042926/https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1755117 |archive-date=2021-06-01 |journal=Public Affairs Quarterly |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=193–217 |ssrn=1755117 |s2cid=142824378 |doi=10.1515/9780773576636-002|isbn=978-0-7735-7663-6 }}

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".{{cite book|last=Žižek|first=Slavoj|author-link=Slavoj Žižek|title=The Sublime Object of Ideology|date=2008|publisher=Verso|isbn=978-1-84467-300-1|edition=2nd|location=London|pages=xxxi, 25–27}} Peter Sloterdijk advanced the same idea already in 1988.{{cite book |last=Sloterdijk |first=Peter |date=1988 |title=Critique of Cynical Reason |url=https://archive.org/details/critiqueofcynica00slot |url-access=registration |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=978-0-8166-1586-5}}

Studies have shown that political ideology is somewhat genetically heritable.Bouchard, Thomas J., and Matt McGue. 2003. "[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/neu.10160 Genetic and environmental influences on human psychological differences (ePDF)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200723113707/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/neu.10160 |date=2020-07-23 }}." Journal of Neurobiology 54(1):44–45. {{doi|10.1002/neu.10160}}. {{PMID|12486697}}Cloninger, et al. (1993).Eaves, L. J., and H. J. Eysenck. 1974. "[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v249/n5454/abs/249288a0.html Genetics and the development of social attitudes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170327080316/http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v249/n5454/abs/249288a0.html |date=2017-03-27 }}." Nature 249:288–89. {{doi|10.1038/249288a0}}.Alford, John, Carolyn Funk, and John R. Hibbing. 2005. "[http://www.uky.edu/AS/PoliSci/Peffley/pdf/Alford,%20et%20al%202005%20APSR%20Genetics.pdf Are Political Orientations Genetically Transmitted?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809045236/http://www.uky.edu/AS/PoliSci/Peffley/pdf/Alford,%20et%20al%202005%20APSR%20Genetics.pdf |date=2017-08-09 }}." American Political Science Review 99(2):153–167.Hatemi, Peter K., Sarah E. Medland, Katherine I. Morley, Andrew C. Heath, and Nicholas G. Martin. 2007. "[https://genepi.qimr.edu.au/contents/p/staff/Hatemi501Published.pdf The genetics of voting: An Australian twin study] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720165619/http://www.genepi.qimr.edu.au/contents/p/staff/Hatemi501Published.pdf |date=2008-07-20 }}." Behavior Genetics 37(3):435–448. {{doi|10.1007/s10519-006-9138-8}}.Hatemi, Peter K., J. Hibbing, J. Alford, N. Martin, and L. Eaves. 2009. "[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258180337_Is_There_a_Party_in_Your_Genes Is there a 'party' in your genes?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601042914/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258180337_Is_There_a_Party_in_Your_Genes |date=2021-06-01 }}" Political Research Quarterly 62 (3):584–600. {{doi|10.1177/1065912908327606}}. {{SSRN|1276482}}.Settle, Jaime E., Christopher T. Dawes, and James H. Fowler. 2009. "[http://jhfowler.ucsd.edu/heritability_of_partisan_attachment.pdf The heritability of partisan attachment] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616133630/http://jhfowler.ucsd.edu/heritability_of_partisan_attachment.pdf |date=2010-06-16 }}." Political Research Quarterly 62(3):601–13. {{doi|10.1177/1065912908327607}}.

{{main|Ideocracy}}

When a political ideology becomes a dominantly pervasive component within a government, one can speak of an ideocracy.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xC6FAAAAMAAJ|title=Jaroslaw Piekalkiewicz, Alfred Wayne Penn. Politics of Ideocracy|isbn=978-0-7914-2297-7|last1=Piekalkiewicz|first1=Jaroslaw|last2=Penn|first2=Alfred Wayne|year=1995|publisher=State University of New York Press |access-date=2020-08-27|archive-date=2021-04-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413211428/https://books.google.com/books?id=xC6FAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}} 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 The Anatomy of Revolution, Crane Brinton said that new ideology spreads when there is discontent with an old regime.Brinton, Crane. 1938. "Chapter 2." The Anatomy of Revolution. The may be repeated during revolutions itself; extremists such as Vladimir Lenin and Robespierre may thus overcome more moderate revolutionaries.Brinton, Crane. 1938. "Chapter 6." The Anatomy of Revolution. This stage is soon followed by Thermidor, a reining back of revolutionary enthusiasm under pragmatists like Napoleon and Joseph Stalin, who bring "normalcy and equilibrium".Brinton, Crane. 1938. "Chapter 8." The Anatomy of Revolution. Brinton's sequence ("men of ideas>fanatics>practical men of action") is reiterated by J. William Fulbright,Fulbright, J. William. 1967. The Arrogance of Power. ch. 3–7. while a similar form occurs in Eric Hoffer's The True Believer.Hoffer, Eric. 1951. The True Believer. ch. 15–17.

Even when the challenging of existing beliefs is encouraged, as in scientific theories, the dominant paradigm or mindset can prevent certain challenges, theories, or experiments from being advanced. A special case of science that has inspired ideology is ecology, which studies the relationships among living things on Earth. Perceptual psychologist James J. Gibson believed that human perception of ecological relationships was the basis of self-awareness and cognition itself.{{cite book |last1=Gibson |first1=James J. |title=The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception |date=1979 |publisher=Taylor & Francis}} 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.{{cite book |last1=Lakoff |first1=George |title=Where Mathematics Comes From: How the Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics Into Being |date=2000 |publisher=Basic Books}}

Deep ecology and the modern ecology movement (and, to a lesser degree, Green parties) appear to have adopted ecological sciences as a positive ideology.{{cite web |last1=Madsen |first1=Peter |title=Deep Ecology |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/deep-ecology |website=Britannica |access-date=2021-04-10 |archive-date=2021-04-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413203553/https://www.britannica.com/topic/deep-ecology |url-status=live }} Some notable economically based ideologies include neoliberalism, monetarism, mercantilism, mixed economy, social Darwinism, communism, laissez-faire economics, and free trade. There are also current theories of safe trade and fair trade that can be seen as ideologies.

A large amount of research in psychology is concerned with the causes, consequences and content of ideology,{{cite journal |last1=Jost |first1=John T. |author1-link=John Jost |last2=Federico |first2=Christopher M. |last3=Napier |first3=Jaime L. |date=January 2009 |title=Political Ideology: Its Structure, Functions, and Elective Affinities |journal=Annual Review of Psychology |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=307–337 |doi=10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163600 |pmid=19035826}}{{cite journal |last1=Schlenker |first1=Barry R. |last2=Chambers |first2=John R. |last3=Le |first3=Bonnie M. |date=April 2012 |title=Conservatives are happier than liberals, but why? Political ideology, personality, and life satisfaction |journal=Journal of Research in Personality |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=127–146 |doi=10.1016/j.jrp.2011.12.009}}{{cite journal |last1=Saucier |first1=Gerard |author-link=Gerard Saucier |date=2000 |title=Isms and the structure of social attitudes. |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |volume=78 |issue=2 |pages=366–385 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.78.2.366 |pmid=10707341}} with humans being dubbed the "ideological animal" by Althusser.{{Cite book |last1=Greenberg |first1=Jeff |title=Handbook of experimental existential psychology |last2=Koole |first2=Sander Leon |last3=Pyszczynski |first3=Thomas A. |date=2004 |publisher=Guilford Press |isbn=978-1-59385-040-1 |location=New York}}{{Rp|page=269}} Many theories have tried to explain the existence of ideology in human societies.{{Rp|page=269}}

Jost, Ledgerwood, and Hardin (2008) propose that ideologies may function as prepackaged units of interpretation that spread because of basic human motives to understand the world, avoid existential threat, and maintain valued interpersonal relationships.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. The authors conclude that such motives may lead disproportionately to the adoption of system-justifying worldviews.{{cite book |author=Lee S. Dimin |title=Corporatocracy: A Revolution in Progress |year=2011 |pages=140}} Psychologists generally agree that personality traits, individual difference variables, needs, and ideological beliefs seem to have something in common.

Just-world theory posits that people want to believe in a fair world for a sense of control and security and generate ideologies in order to maintain this belief, for example by justifiying inequality or unfortunate events. A critique of just world theory as a sole explanation of ideology is that it does not explain the differences between ideologies.{{Rp|page=270–271}}

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.{{Rp|page=271}}

System justification theory posits that people tend to defend existing society, even at times against their interest, which in turn causes people to create ideological explanations to justify the status quo. Jost, Fitzimmons and Kay argue that the motivation to protect a preexisting system is due to a desire for cognitive consistency (being able to think in similar ways over time), reducing uncertainty and reducing effort, illusion of control and fear of equality.{{Rp|page=272}} According to system justification theory, ideologies reflect (unconscious) motivational processes, as opposed to the view that political convictions always reflect independent and unbiased thinking.

According to semiotician Bob Hodge:Hodge, Bob. "[http://www.semioticon.com/seo/I/ideology.html# Ideology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905215511/http://www.semioticon.com/seo/I/ideology.html |date=2008-09-05 }}." Semiotics Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 12 June 2020.

[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.

Sociologists define ideology as "cultural beliefs that justify particular social arrangements, including patterns of inequality".{{Cite book|title=Sociology|last=Macionis|first=John J.|date=2010|publisher=Pearson Education|isbn=978-0-205-74989-8|edition=13th|location=Upper Saddle River, N.J.|page=257|oclc=468109511}} 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.{{Cite book|title=SOC 2018|last=Witt|first=Jon|publisher=McGraw Hill|year=2017|isbn=978-1-259-70272-3|edition=5th|location=[S.l.]|page=65|oclc=968304061}} As societies changed throughout history, so did the ideologies that justified systems of inequality.

Sociological examples of ideologies include racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and ethnocentrism.

• "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 LamaBunson, Matthew, ed. 1997. The Dalai Lama's Book of Wisdom. Ebury Press. p. 180.
• "The function of ideology is to stabilize and perpetuate dominance through masking or illusion." — Sally Haslanger{{Cite journal|last1=Haslanger|first1=Sally|author1-link=Sally Haslanger|year=2017|title=I – Culture and Critique|journal=Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume|volume=91|pages=149–73|doi=10.1093/arisup/akx001|doi-access=free|hdl=1721.1/116882|hdl-access=free}}
• "[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 ArendtArendt, Hannah. 1968. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Harcourt. p. 159.

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• The Anatomy of Revolution
• Belief#Belief systems
• 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

{{div col end}}

{{reflist}}

• Althusser, Louis. [1970] 1971. "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses." In Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Monthly Review Press {{ISBN|1-58367-039-4}}.
• Belloni, Claudio. 2013. Per la critica dell’ideologia: Filosofia e storia in Marx. Milan: Mimesis.
• Debord, Guy. 1967 The Society of the Spectacle. Bureau of Public Secrets 2014 (Annotated Edition)
• Duncker, Christian 2006. Kritische Reflexionen Des Ideologiebegriffes. {{ISBN|1-903343-88-7}}.
• —, ed. 2008. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20091213073427/http://ideologieforschung.de/web/Welcome.html Ideologiekritik Aktuell]." Ideologies Today 1. London. {{ISBN|978-1-84790-015-9}}.
• Eagleton, Terry. 1991. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Jk2h8zoHfcIC Ideology: An Introduction]. Verso. {{ISBN|0-86091-319-8}}.
• Ellul, Jacques. [1965] 1973. Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, translated by K. Kellen and J. Lerner. New York: Random House.
• Freeden, Michael. 1996. Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-829414-6}}
• Feuer, Lewis S. 2010. Ideology and Ideologists. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
• Gries, Peter Hays. 2014. The Politics of American Foreign Policy: How Ideology Divides Liberals and Conservatives over Foreign Affairs. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
• Haas, Mark L. 2005. [http://www.themontrealreview.com/2009/The-Clash-of-Ideologies-Middle-Eastern-Politics-and-American-Security-by-Mark-L-Haas.php The Ideological Origins of Great Power Politics, 1789–1989]. Cornell University Press. {{ISBN|0-8014-7407-8}}.
• Hawkes, David. 2003. Ideology (2nd ed.). Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-29012-0}}.
• James, Paul, and Manfred Steger. 2010. [https://www.academia.edu/4510893 Globalization and Culture, Vol. 4: Ideologies of Globalism]. London: Sage.
• Lukács, Georg. [1967] 1919–1923. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/lukacs/works/history/index.htm History and Class Consciousness], translated by R. Livingstone. Merlin Press.
• Malesevic, Sinisa, and Iain Mackenzie, eds. Ideology after Poststructuralism. London: Pluto Press.
• Mannheim, Karl. 1936. Ideology and Utopia. Routledge.
• Marx, Karl. [1845–46] 1932. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/index.htm The German Ideology].
• Minogue, Kenneth. 1985. Alien Powers: The Pure Theory of Ideology. Palgrave Macmillan. {{ISBN|0-312-01860-6}}.
• Minar, David W. 1961. "Ideology and Political Behavior." Midwest Journal of Political Science 5(4):317–331. {{doi|10.2307/2108991}}. {{JSTOR|2108991}}.
• Mullins, Willard A. 1972.:)) "On the Concept of Ideology in Political Science." American Political Science Review 66(2):498–510. {{doi|10.2307/1957794}}.
• Ostrowski, Marius S. 2022. [https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=ideology--9781509540723 Ideology]. Cambridge: Polity. ISBN 978-1509540730.
• Owen, John. 2011. [http://www.themontrealreview.com/2009/The-clash-of-ideas-in-world-politics-john-owen.php The Clash of Ideas in World Politics: Transnational Networks, States, and Regime Change, 1510–2010]. Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|0-691-14239-4}}.
• Pinker, Steven. 2002. The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. New York: Penguin Group. {{ISBN|0-670-03151-8}}.
• {{ill|Marcello Sorce Keller|lt=Sorce Keller, Marcello|de||fr||it}}. 2007. "Why is Music so Ideological, Why Do Totalitarian States Take It So Seriously: A Personal View from History, and the Social Sciences." Journal of Musicological Research 26(2–3):91–122.
• Steger, Manfred B., and Paul James. 2013. "[https://www.academia.edu/4311113 Levels of Subjective Globalization: Ideologies, Imaginaries, Ontologies]." Perspectives on Global Development and Technology 12(1–2):17–40. {{doi|10.1163/15691497-12341240}}
• Verschueren, Jef. 2012. Ideology in Language Use: Pragmatic Guidelines for Empirical Research. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-1-107-69590-0}}

{{Wikiquote}}

{{Wiktionary}}

• [http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/12972-the-perverts-guide-to-ideology-how-ideology-seduces-us-and-how-we-can-try-to-escape-it The Pervert's Guide to Ideology: How Ideology Seduces Us – and How We Can (Try to) Escape It]
• [http://www.autodidactproject.org/guidideo.html Ideology Study Guide]
• [http://www.marx2mao.com/Other/LPOE70ii.html#s5 Louis Althusser's "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses"]

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