Who owns 'ideology'?
No-one and everyone.
Photo by Priscilla du Preez on Unsplash
Contrary to what some political journalists, commentators and conservative politicians assert in their various articles and oratory rhetoric, the term ideology does not belong to liberal politics. It's not 'a thing' owned by liberal politicians and their supporters, even though they bandy it around as if it is. The word ideology is pejoratively flavoured, politically designated, by said right-wingers, to the leftists. At the same time, they staked their claim on 'freedom', and have held on to it for decades.
Freedom and ideology are 'heavyweight' words, like liberty, feminism, democracy, religion, economy or taxes. They're born from social changes, and rooted in profound historical events, ambiguous, loved by some, despised by others and, they're generally hard to explain. Moreover, they are used as boxing gloves to spar with an opponent's ideas.
Ideology, as a term, has fuzzy beginnings. 17th century English philosopher, Sir Francis Bacon defined it as, "The working of ideas, that taken together help to legitimate a dominant paradigm". French philosopher Destutt de Tracy added his understanding that ideology is 'a system of beliefs', which we can study to understand how we think, speak and argue. In the 20th century, ideology was studied by Engels and Marx as they sought to understand power and ruling classes leaving it to be associated with communism, which didn't do it any favours.
The capitalists, and their war on communism, relegated ideology to the pile of political mishaps and economic disasters—an excellent framing coup on their part. But socially polarizing; leveraging the capitalist to 'us', those who have the truth, and 'them' those who have an ideology, i.e., the wrong way. But this is incorrect. Ideology is not inherently political. Today, the social sciences understand it to be a shared way of understanding the world, that forms the basis of social practices. Meaning, ideologies are about social beliefs and power.
So, ideology is not a bad word. And ideologies are neither good nor bad perse. Our human world is constructed based on beliefs, not just religious or economic ones, but ones about how we can raise our children, grow our food, or how we think about migrants. Beliefs form the basis of our traditions, and they guide and construct our cultures. For example, the New Zealand No.8 wire attitude is ideological. It's a mentality, which evolved from scarcity and pioneering. We admire this cultural attitude, while in other countries, it's disparaged. That's how beliefs work.
How we talk about ideology matters as much as how we talk about say, rights to free speech or whether or not democracies work. Understanding that beliefs are the basis of social construction; who has the power and why they should, is vital in a functional democracy. In an election period, this heavyweight word gets thrown around carelessly, and we should be wary of anyone, political or not, who uses if to profile themselves as superior. Ideology' is a democratic word, like wearing Nike shoes or drinking a Coke; it's the same for everyone. Take my word for it.
The following scholars and their work inform this article:
George Lakoff: Don't Think of an Elephant
Teun van Dijk: Ideology and Discourse
Teun van Dijk: Discourse Studies, Discourse and Ideology
