Editing Ideology (section)

==Definitions and analysis==
There are many different kinds of ideologies, including [[politics|political]], [[Social issues|social]], [[epistemological]], and [[ethics|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 [[Subjectivity|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 (academic)|Paul James]], emphasize both the issue of patterning and [[Contingency (philosophy)|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."<ref>[[Paul James (academic)|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 Publishing|Sage]].</ref>

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 system]]s.{{Example needed|date=February 2019}} David W. Minar describes six different ways the word ''ideology'' has been used:<ref>Minar, David W. 1961. "Ideology and Political Behavior." ''[[Midwest Journal of Political Science]]'' 5(4):317–31. {{doi|10.2307/2108991}}. {{JSTOR|2108991}}.</ref>
# As a collection of certain ideas with certain kinds of ''content'', usually normative;
# As the ''form or [[internal logic]]al structure'' that ideas have within a set;
# By the role ideas play in ''[[Human social interaction|human-social interaction]]'';
# By the role ideas play in the ''[[Organizational structure|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:<ref>Mullins, Willard A. 1972. "On the Concept of Ideology in Political Science." ''[[American Political Science Review]]'' 66(2):498–510. {{doi|10.2307/1957794}}.</ref>
# it must have power over [[cognition]];
# it must be capable of guiding one's [[evaluation]]s;
# 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:<ref name=":2">[[Terry Eagleton|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 Books|Verso]]. {{ISBN|0-86091-319-8}}.</ref>
# 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
# [[Semiotics|Semiotic]] closure<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|197}}
# The indispensable medium in which individuals live out their relations to a [[social structure]]
# The process that converts social life to a natural reality

German philosopher Christian Duncker called for a "critical reflection of the ideology concept".<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20110701015904/http://www.ideologieforschung.de/web/Christian_Duncker.html Christian Duncker]" (in German). ''Ideologie Forschung''. 2006.</ref> 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===
[[File:Karl Marx 001 (3x4 cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Karl Marx]] 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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 interest|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."<ref>{{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}}</ref>

The Marxist formulation of "ideology as an instrument of social reproduction" is conceptually important to the [[sociology of knowledge]],<ref>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=}}</ref> 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 mind|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]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Society of the Spectacle|publisher=Zone Books|author=Guy Debord|year=1995}}</ref>

=== Unifying agents (Hoffer) ===
The American philosopher [[Eric Hoffer]] identified several elements that unify followers of a particular ideology:<ref name=":3">[[Eric Hoffer|Hoffer, Eric]]. 1951. ''[[The True Believer]]''. [[Harper Perennial]]. p. 91, ''[[et seq]].''</ref>

# Hatred: "Mass movements can rise and spread without a [[God]], but never without belief in a [[devil]]."<ref name=":3" /> The "ideal devil" is a foreigner.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|93}}
# 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."<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|101–2}}
# 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."<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|110}}
# Coercion: Hoffer asserts that violence and [[fanaticism]] are interdependent. People forcibly converted to [[Islam]]ic or [[communist]] beliefs become as fanatical as those who did the forcing. He says: "It takes fanatical faith to rationalize our cowardice."<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|107–8}}
# 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 [[lieutenant]]s.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|112–4}} [[Charlatan]]ism 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|promised land]]", but only "away from their unwanted selves".<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|116–9}}
# Action: Original thoughts are suppressed, and unity encouraged, if the masses are kept occupied through great projects, marches, exploration and industry.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|120–1}}
# 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]].<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|124}}

===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. [[Christianity in Europe|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.