19. Ideology

• Ideology

  a worldview or set of ideas
• ideology and sociology

  while it has a simple idea, the term is widely used in sociology and taken on several related meanings often including negative aspects eg.

  - distorted or false ideas about the world, or a biased view of reality

  - ideas that conceal the interests of a group or legitimise their privileges

  - ideas that prevent change by misleading people about the reality of a situation they are in

  - self-sustaining belief systems that are irrational and closed to criticism
• marxism and ideology

  because society is built on the oppression and exploitation of the working class for the gain of the bourgeoisie, the ruling class has to control the means of mental production to prevent class consciousness by instilling ruling class ideology in the proletariat
• ruling class ideology

  - the idea that equality will never work because it goes against human nature

  - victim blaming ideals about poverty eg. bowles + gintis' 'the poor are dumb' theory of meritocracy that suggests if people don't succeed it is due to their own fault

  - racist ideas about the inferiority of minority ethnic groups which divide workers eg. the black mugging and immigration moral panics
• hegemony and revolution

  gramsci - the ruling class' ideology is called hegemony, and the working class can develop ideas that challenge this hegemony because they hold a dual consciousness within a capitalist society - a mixture of ruling-class ideology and their own experience of exploitation

  if the proletariat organise organic intellectuals they are able to develop class consciousness and overthrow the bourgeoisie

  HOWEVER abercrombe - it's economic factors eg. fear of unemployment that prevent rebellion
• ideology of nationalism

  a recent political ideology that has majorly impacted the world recently, claiming that

  nations are real and distinctive communities with unique characteristics and a long shared history

  every nation should be self-governing

  national loyalty and identity should come before all others

  HOWEVER anderson - a nation is an imagined community that binds millions of strangers to a common purpose without these members knowing one another
• nationalism as false consciousness

  in the marxist view nationalism is an extension of false class-consciousness that prevents the overthrow of capitalism by internationally dividing the working class because it encourages workers to identify more with their national bourgeoisie than the international proletariat

  - marx - 'workers of all countries, unite. you have nothing to lose but your chairs. you have a world to win
• nationalism as civil religion

  bellah - as a functionalist nationalism forms a secular civil religion that integrates individuals into larger social and political units

  - while people might be reluctant to believe in supernatural beings that previously brought societies together they are more willing to see themselves as part of a country

  - also bypasses the fact that modern societies often contain people of many different faiths

  - education often includes national symbols eg. new british values curriculum that socialises children into nationalist views
• nationalism and modernity

  gellner - nationalism is a false consciousness that incorrectly claims nations have existed since the beginning of time, and is instead a product of modernity

  - modernity creates large and impersonal societies with complex divisions of labour which require a means of communication between members

  - nationalism allows greater social and economic cooperation by providing a common ground

  - also an ideology used by the elite to help the population endure the hardships of industrialisation
• ideology and utopia

  mannheim - all belief systems are one-sided worldviews as they are the view of a particular group or class, so there are two broad types of belief systems

  - ideology - justifies maintaining current social order by reflecting the position and interests of the ruling class

  - utopia - justifies social change by reflecting the position of the underprivileged and offering a different view of how society could be

  these are creations of groups of intellectuals who attach themselves to particular classes, but still are only partial views so is a cause of conflict
• the free-flowing intelligentsia

  mannheim - the solution to ideology is to detach intellectuals from the social group they represent to create an unaligned free-flowing intelligentsia above conflict

  - this would allow the creation of a total view from different aspects of the ideologies

  - however many ideologies are in direct opposition so this is a near impossible task
• feminism and ideology

  patriarchal ideology plays a key part in legitimising the unequal power dynamic between men and women

  marks - scientific ideas have been used to justify excluding women from education and suggesting they should be housewives

  religious ideas have also been used to reinforce women's subordination through exclusionary practices and ideas such as the idea that they are unclean, especially when menstruating

  HOWEVER not all elements of ideology eg. religion oppress women eg. fertility cults
• Ideology vs Belief Systems

  Ideology - descriptive 'should do'

  Belief Systems - prescriptive 'must do'