Ideology

The Word Ideology was first used by the French philosopher Antoine-Louis-Claude Destutt de Tracy during the French Revolution; he called it his “science of ideas” and intended that his study of ideas would transform France into a scientific and rational society.

While Destutt de Tracy enjoyed initial years of popularity, he was eventually scorned by Napoleon, who blamed his military defeats in part on intellectuals [Page 909]and the ideologues. The history and subject of ideology has since been controversial and the word may be used both formally or informally, positively or pejoratively.

Modern philosophy generally describes ideology in both positive and pejorative terms. In a positive sense, ideology is a system of values, beliefs, and ideas, unconscious or conscious, which organize and shape understandings and perceptions of the political and social world. It acts to justify, recommend, and implement collective action aimed at influencing public thought or political and institutional social structures. It is a set of ideas used to address truth and conduct, and that speaks for a class, nation, or other body of believers.

Anthropologists commonly describe ideology as a set of explanatory cultural beliefs that serve to unify morals, goals, and social relations and without which civilization would be impossible. Ideology is an ordered set of linguistic and cultural symbols through which people interpret and make meaning of the world. Every society has an ideology, and it forms common sense and public opinion. In this view, ideologies are beliefs that are consciously held. They enable groups of people in society to act in unison to direct societal and political change.

In a more subtle sense, anthropologists and sociologists describe how ideology and the sense of normalcy remain invisible to most people in society. They are unquestioned and taken for granted in our norms and assumptions. Seeing past this invisible and internalized logic requires an active process of analysis.