Political Ideologies
No one sees the world as it is. All of us look at the world through a veil of theories, presuppositions and assumption. In this sense, observation and interpretation are inextricably bound together: when we look at the world we are also engaged in imposing meaning upon it. This has important implication for the study of politics. In particular, it highlights the need to uncover the presuppositions and assumptions that we bring to political enquiry. At their deepest level, these assumptions are rooted in broad political creeds or traditions that are usually termed 'political ideologies'. Each of these 'isms' (Liberalism, socialism, conservatism, feminism, fascism, and so on) constitutes a distinctive intellectual framework or paradigm, and each offers its own account of political reality, its own world view. However, there is deep disagreement both about the nature of ideology and about the role, for good or ill, that it plays in
political life.
Ideology is one of the most controversial concepts encountered in political analysis. Although the term now tends to be used in a neutral sense, to refer to a developed social philosophy or world view, it has in the past had heavily negative or pejorative connotations. During its sometimes tortuous career, the concept of ideology has commonly been used as a political weapon to condemn or criticize rival creeds or doctrines.
For Marx, ideology amounted to the ideas of the 'ruling class', ideas the therefore uphold the class system and perpetuate exploitation. In their early work 'The German Ideology', Marx and Engels wrote the following:
The ideas of the class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling 'material' force in society , is at the same time the ruling 'intellectual' force. The class which has the means of mental production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production. (Mar and Engels, [2956] 1970:64)
Source: Politics, Andrew Heywood
political life.
Ideology is one of the most controversial concepts encountered in political analysis. Although the term now tends to be used in a neutral sense, to refer to a developed social philosophy or world view, it has in the past had heavily negative or pejorative connotations. During its sometimes tortuous career, the concept of ideology has commonly been used as a political weapon to condemn or criticize rival creeds or doctrines.
For Marx, ideology amounted to the ideas of the 'ruling class', ideas the therefore uphold the class system and perpetuate exploitation. In their early work 'The German Ideology', Marx and Engels wrote the following:
The ideas of the class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling 'material' force in society , is at the same time the ruling 'intellectual' force. The class which has the means of mental production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production. (Mar and Engels, [2956] 1970:64)
Source: Politics, Andrew Heywood
