Belief and ideology

• Religion as a closed belief system

  -often suggest that they KNOW the truth about the world and don't tolerate others that criticise the truth

  -they can be very conservative with their beliefs and do not wish to change
• Religion as an open belief system- Herberg

  -Religion can be seen as an open system of belief when it is open to change.

  -Herberg - suggests that some religions are open to change and have diluted their beliefs systems in order to maintain relevance in modern society.

  -He refers to this process as internal secularisation e.g. uses the acceptance of female Bishops into the Church of England
• System as a closed system - Kuhn

  Kuhn- Science is a closed belief system as it runs of paradigms which shape the way that the discipline is defined and understood as well as how research is carried out.

  As this is accepted by the majority it is very hard to change
• Polanyi - self sustaining beliefs

  In order to protect themselves from challenge closed systems such as religion have 3 main tendencies

  1. Denial of legitimacy- complete rejection of the claim s of rivals to convince followers that they alone hold the truth.
  2. Subsidiary explanations- Get out clauses to explain a way criticisms or to deflect the argument
  3. Circularity- Each idea within the system is explained in terms of another idea within the system
• Neo-Marxist Key study - Williams

  -ruling class has a more individualistic culture - people succeed by perusing their own individual interests

  -W/C culture is more collectivist believing people succeed through group action

  -Ruling class ideology isn't always dominant but can be challenged by residual ideology (declining class e.g. land owners) and ideology of a new class that's developing e.g. rich celebs (emergent ideology)
• Neo-Marxist Key study - Gramsci

  -members of society possess dual class consciousnesses as their partly influenced by ruling class ideology because of media, the education system and ideology and may also have direct experience of exploitation

  -so, the W/C partly see through the capitalist system, whilst not rejecting it all together
• Evaluation of neo-marxism (positive)-

  -Bowles and Gintis- US education system created docile workers

  -Glasgow media group- claim that the media has consistent pro-capitalist bias
• Evaluation of neo-marxism (negative)-

  -Postmodernists- classes are no longer significant so there's no longer a dominant ideology

  -Feminists- ideology reflects patriarchal divisions rather than class division
• Radical feminism-

  -Millet- men are socialised into having dominant temperament by societies culture but, non ideological factors e.g. violence play a role in maintaining male dominance

  -Greer- patriarchal ideology is entrenched in society as it reflects they way women are expected to improve their physical appearance to attract men
• Marxist feminism-

  -Benston- the ideology sees women as secondary wage earners and benefits both male power and capitalism, as women have less economic power than men
• Black Feminism-

  -Mirza- black women are doubly disadvantages however some black women challenge these ideologies by working hard in education to succeed
• Feminism evaluations-

  -Bryson- criticises the idea of patriarchy it describes but doesn't explain gender inequalities

  -Views may be becoming less relevant as opportunities for women have increased and Western societies are becoming more patriarchal
• Discourse analysis

  -rather than the idea that inequality creates a dominant group discourse analysis looks how people exercise power by writing, thinking and talking about something in a certain way, revealing their identities

  -has been used to understand racist beliefs
• Example of discourse analysis- Said - Orientalism

  -Western media portray Orientals as primitive and untrustworthy

  -due to racist attacks oriental ideologies have been directed towards Islam helping to create Islamophobia

  -no truth behind this idea but saw it as a way to justify American intervention in Islamic counties
• Postmodernism-

  -Lyotard- people no longer believe in modernity metanarratives e.g. communism and fascism

  -so ideology is declining

  Evaluation-

  Philo and Miller- post modernity itself is value-laden and a form of ideology itself which supports capitalism, as it celebrates the apparent acceptance of consumer culture without taking account of the fact that poor people can't consume like the rich so supporting inequality