POS 1101 Module 2: Political Ideas and Ideologies

Ideology
-etymology: French Philosopher Destutt de Tracy in 1796
● science of ideas that set out to uncover the origins of the conscious thoughts and ideas

-ideology according to Karl Marx:

● amounted to the ideas of the 'ruling class', ideas that therefore uphold the class system
and perpetuate exploitation
● mystifies and confuses subordinate classes by concealing from them the contradictions
upon which all class societies are based

-alternative uses
● instrument of social control to ensure compliance and subordination (Popper, Talmon,
and Arendt)
● abstract system of thought that distorts political reality because they claim to understand
something that is frankly incomprehensible (Oakshott)

-more or less coherent set of ideas that provides a basis for organized political action, whether
this is to preserve, modify or overthrow the existing system of power relationships

-Purpose:
1. offer an existing account of the existing order, usually in the form of a 'worldview' (lens or
framework)
2. provide a model of the desired future, a vision of the Good Society
3. outline how political change can and should be brought about

-Steger argues that ideology is a system of widely shared ideas, patterned beliefs, guiding
norms and values, and ideals accepted as truth by some groups. Ideologies offer individuals a
more or less coherent picture of the world not only as it is, but also as it ought to be.

-In doing so, ideologies help organize the complexity of human experiences into fairly simple
claims that serve as guide and compass for social and political action.

-Functions:
1. Distortion-production of contorted images of social reality
2. Legitimation-the claim to legitimacy made by the ruling authority and the belief in the
authority's legitimacy granted by its subjects
3. Integration-creates, preserves, and protects the social identity of persons and groups

Major Political Ideologies

Liberalism
-the current meta-ideology
-product breakdown of feudalism and the growth, in its place, of a market or capitalist society
-Elements:
● Individualism
-core principle
-supreme importance of the human individual
-implies that human beings are of equal moral worth with separate unique identities
-liberal goal is to construct a society where individuals can flourish and develop, each
pursuing the good as he defines it, to the best of her abilities
-morally neutral

● Freedom
-core value
-given priority over equality, justice, and authority
-advocacy for 'freedom under the law' (law must be made in the most democratic way
possible)

● Reason
-liberalist faith to the ability of individuals to make wise judgments on their own behalf,
being, in most cases, the best judges of their own interests
-encourage liberals to believe in progress and the capacity to resolve differences
through debate and argument and not on bloodshed and war

● Equality
-individuals are born equal, at least in terms of moral worth
-liberal commitment to equal rights and entitlements (legal and political equality)
-does not endorse social equality/equality of outcome but equality of opportunities
(hence, the belief in meritocracy)

● Toleration
-willingness of people to allow others to think, speak and act in ways of which they
disapprove
-pluralism is healthy
-free market of ideas

● Consent
-authority and social relationships should always be based on consent or willing
agreement
-'consent of the governed': favoring representation and democracy
-authority rises 'from below' and is always grounded in legitimacy

● Constitutionalism
-aware of the danger that power tends to corrupt (Lord Acton)
-liberals believe in a limited government: fragmentation of government power, creation
of checks and balances, and the establishment of codified constitution embodying a bill
of rights and defining the relationship between the state and the individual

-Threads:
 ● Classical
-extreme form
-human beings are egotistical, self-seeking and largely self-reliant creatures
-state as a necessary evil
-laissez-faire
-atomist view: 'negative liberty', meaning non-interference or absence of external
constraints, implying an unsympathetic attitude towards the state and all forms of
government intervention

● Modern
-more sympathetic towards state intervention
-support for big government (interventionist) = economic management and social
regulation
-free market has caused injustices
-freedom does not simply mean being left alone but that ability of the individual to gain
fulfillment and achieve self-realization (basis for social or welfare liberalism)
-five giants: want, ignorance, idleness, squalor, and disease
-managed or regulated capitalism (key economic responsibilities handled by the state)

Conservatism
-late 18th century to 19th century
-Elements:
● Tradition
-desire to conserve
-respect for established customs and institutions
-tradition has the virtue of promoting stability and security

● Pragmatism
-emphasis on limitations of human rationality
-faith in experience, history, and pragmatism (shaped by practical circumstances and
goals=what works)

● Human Imperfection
-limited, dependent, and security-seeking individuals
-morally corrupt, selfish, greedy, and thirsty for power

● Organicism
-society as an organic whole or living entity
-structured by natural necessity

● Hierarchy
-social position and status are natural and inevitable in an organic society
-society is bound by mutual obligations and reciprocal duties

● Authority
-authority is exercised from above (natural aristocracy vs. effort and self-advancement)

● Property
-exploration of people's personalities, property ownership is vital because it gives
people security/measure of independence from government
-encourages them to respect the property of others
-Threads:
● Paternalistic
-consistent with principles such as organicism, hierarchy, and duty
-blend between market competition and government regulation (private enterprise w/o
selfishness: broader societal benefit)

● New Right
-counter towards state intervention and the spread of liberal/progressive social values
-shift from state to market-oriented forms of organization
-supporting the goal of a strong but minimal state (free economy and the strong state)

● Neoliberalism
-updated version of classical political economy
-central pillars: market and the individual
-"roll back" the frontiers of the state in the belief that: unregulated market capitalism will
deliver efficiency, growth, and widespread property
-believes that nanny state breeds a culture of dependence and undermines individual
freedom

● Neoconservatism
-reasserts 19th century conservative social principles
-restore authority and return to traditional values, notably linked to family, religion, and
nation
-authority as guaranteeing social stability
-shared values and common culture are believed to generate social cohesion and make
civilized existence possible

Socialism
-reaction against the emergence of industrial capitalism
-early 19th century
-Elements:
● Community
-core of socialism
-human beings as social creatures linked by the existence of common humanity
-individuals are shaped by social interaction and membership of social groups and
collective bodies
-nature vs nurture

● Social Equality
-central value
-often regarded as a form of egalitarianism
-equality of OUTCOME
-essential guarantee of social stability and cohesion, encouraging individuals to identify
with their fellow human beings

-basis for exercise of legal and political rights

● Fraternity
-human beings are bound together by a sense of comradeship or fraternity
 -cooperation over competition; collectivism over individualism

● Need
-material benefits are distributed on the basis of need, not merit

● Social Class
-analyze society in terms of distribution of income or wealth
-class is seen as the most significant social cleavage
-socialism has been traditionally associated with the interests of an oppressed and
exploited working class
-socialism has been regarded as the agent of social change/revolution

● Common Ownership
-some see this as an end or simply a means of generating broader equality
-means of harnessing material resources to the common good

Marxism
-principal alternative to the liberal rationalism
-Karl Marx
-Elements:
● Historical Materialism
-cornerstone of Marxist philosophy
-highlighted the importance of economic life and the conditions under which people
produce and reproduce their means of subsistence
-economic base conditions the ideological and political superstructure
-social and historical developments can be explained in terms of economic and social
factors

● Dialectical Change
-driving force of historical change was the dialectic (process of interaction between
competing forces that result to a higher stage of development)

● Alienation
-a central principle
-state or process of depersonalization: separation from one's genuine or essential
nature
-labor is reduced to a commodity and work becomes a depersonalized activity
-unalienated labor is essential in human fulfillment and self-realization

● Class Struggle
-proletariat (working class) vs bourgeoisie (ruling class)

● Surplus Value
-proletariat is necessarily and systematically exploited by capitalism
-capitalist enterprises are forced to extract 'surplus value' from their workers by paying
them less than the value of the labor

● Proletarian Revolution
-capitalism would pass through a series of increasingly serious crises of overproduction
-would bring the proletariat to class consciousness
 ● Communism
-proletarian revolution would usher in a transitory 'socialist' period
-'dictatorship' of the proletariat would be required to contain a counter-revolution
-a communist society would be classless in the sense that wealth would be owned by all
-system of commodity production would be replaced by production of use geared to the
satisfaction of genuine human needs
-humans are able to shape their own destinies and realize their full potential (prehistory
of man would come to an end)

Is the Left-Right Distinction still Relevant?

-According to Bobbio:

● left and right are not absolute terms

● what is left and right in one period is not necessarily so in another (relativity)
● left and right do not represent 2 fixed ideas, but rather an axis which shifts considerable
from one generation the next
● politics is by nature antithetical (there always emerges a polarization of 2 groups)