PART 8

IDEOLOGIES

IDEOLOGY is a verbal image of the good society, and of the chief means of constructing such a society. (Anthony Downs)
It is a comprehensive set of beliefs and attitudes about social and economic institutions and processes. It suggests the means for moving from the existing to the ideal.

Notes: Ideologies are not purely political. Political ideologies are not the same as political science. Ideologies are important cement holding together movements, political parties and revolutionary groups. Not all ideologies preach revolutions.

The Major Ideologies A. Classic Liberalism is anchored basically on the ideas of the Scottish economist Adam Smith. He published a book called The Wealth of Nations founding classic laissezfaire economics. In Mercantilism, the wealth of a nation is determined by the amount of gold and silver bullions in the treasury. In laissez-faire (French which means letting the economy alone), the wealth of a nation is determined by the amount of goods and services a nations people produce.

Getting the government out of the economy will give you the best system. The market itself, will regulate the economy through the unseen hand (the rational calculations of individuals all pursuing their Self-interest.

 Just as the government should not supervise the economy, so also should it not supervise religion, the press or free speech. Government is best that governs least. (Thomas Jefferson) Liberalism comes from the Latin word, liber, meaning free.
Note: During the 19th century changed and split into modern liberalism and what we call now conservatism. B. Classic Conservatism is largely based on the ideas of Edmund Burke, an Irish who was a member parliament representing Bristol, England. In 1792, in his work Reflexions on the Revolution in France, he predicted that France would fall under the rule of a military dictator. In 1799, Napoleon took over.

 According to Burke, humans are only partly rational thats why society over the years has evolved traditions, institutions and standards of morality. Institutions and traditions are products of hundred of years of trial and error and cannot be all too bad. Remove these traditions, institutions and standards, and you will have chaos which will result to tyranny. Change can happen but should only be gradually so as to let the people adjust. Burkes emphasis on religion, traditions and morality strikes a responsive chord in many modern conservative hearts. Burkes ideas have been called anti-ideology because they aimed to shoot down radicalism.

C. Modern Liberalism was brought about by Englishman Thomas Hill Greens rethinking of Liberalism in the late 19th century. According to Green, the goal of liberalism is freedom, and if economic developments take away that very freedom, the government must step in. Ex. To ensure that the wages of workers are above starvation level, the government must take measures guaranteeing the peoples freedom to live at an adequate level. Classic liberalism had expelled government from the marketplace, modern liberalism brought it back to protect the people from a sometimes unfair economic system. Modern liberals championed wage and hour laws, the right to form unions, unemployment and health insurance, educational opportunity to all.

 One strand of the classic liberalism that remains in the modern liberalism is the emphasis on the freedom of the press and speech. D. Modern Conservatism is basically the ideology of those people who remained true to Adam Smiths original doctrine of minimal government intervention. Milton Friedman argued that the original doctrine of Adam Smith is still the best route and that whenever government intervenes, it messes things up. Modern Conservatism also borrowed from Burkes concern for tradition especially in religion. Modern conservatism is therefore a blend of the economic ideas of Adam Smith and the traditionalist ideas of Edmund Burke.

Note: Contemporary Americans who emphasize freedom of the market think of themselves as conservatives simply because they disagree with those Americans who call themselves liberals. Nevertheless, these Americans are seen by Europeans as liberals and the Americans think those European liberals who adhere to the freedom of the market doctrine as actually conservatives.

E. Socialism is an ideology that evolved out of concern for the suffering caused by human exploitation of other humans. Socialists believe that human beings readily engage in cooperative social activity when given a chance. However, there are structures of control that make it impossible for this cooperative instinct to thrive in a society.

 The possibility to acquire unlimited property has stimulated the greed that causes some people to exploit others. To remedy this, it is imperative to establish a community in which the land , the factories and other means of production are owned by the state.
The Development of Socialism The early socialists believe that the suffering of the people because of the excesses of the ruling classes can be eliminated peacefully and cooperatively through an evolutionary process. Karl Marx believed otherwise. Karl Marx and his collaborator Friedrich Engels developed a more complex and elaborate version of socialism which they termed communism (for others Marxism).

Marx asserted that human history has five stages of economic organization: 1. Communalism 2. Slavery 3. Feudalism 4. Capitalism 5. Communism Note: Each stage was characterized by a different dominant mode of production and the social system was determined by those who owned the means of productions.
Capitalism would inevitably replaced by a fifth and final stage called communism in which all the productive advantages of the earlier stages would be retained but control over the means of production would be restored to the people who did the producing, the workers.

Class struggle was the inevitable by-product of the noncommunal control of the means of production. The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class. Let the ruling classes trembleThe proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Vladimir Lenins Major Contributions to Marxism:
A communist revolution is possible even in States that had only been partially industrialized; Imperialism extended the life of capitalism by developing supplementary markets and a new source of cheap labor and material; A revolution would have to be the work of a small party of dedicated and informed revolutionaries who would take it upon themselves to act in the interests of the proletariat at first; The first stage of the revolution would produce a socialist system in which the apparatus of the State would still be necessary. Communism would appear only and the withering of the State when it was finally possible to introduce the formula of from each according to his abilityto each according to his needs.

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Mao Zedongs contributions to communist dogmas (China) The use of guerrilla warfare as an instrument of political change and as a tool of military takeover; The massline of action could be developed by reconciling what the masses will support and what the party thinks they should support; Economic backwardness could be overcome by encouraging the people to draw on their own common sense and experience rather than relying on foreign models.
Democratic Socialism is a moderate form of socialism referred to by others as revisionism or counterrevolutionary by the Soviet Communists.

Democratic Socialists reject the idea that the desperate conflict of the classes can only be ended through a workers revolution. The beliefs of the Moderate Socialists:
Contemporary society is based on class struggle; The ideal society is one in which workers control the State; Revolution is not essential to achieve that ideal; The chief task is to organize the working class, develop its consciousness and give it a voice in local and national government.

1. 2. 3. 4.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Modern-day meaning of Socialism would include:

No exploitation of man by man; A comprehensive guarantee of socio-economic rights; Concern for equality; Collective ownership; Communal participation in the disposal of resources.

 The recent developments in the world today have led some people to argue that the ideological demands for a fully socialist system are now out of the question. F. Fascism is predicated on the belief that what is most important is the nation itself.

This ideology believes that for citizens to prosper, the nation must proper first. The people are therefore secondary only to that of the nation they live in. It is extreme nationalism. Similar to Conservatism, it accepts that some humans are naturally better than the others. However, for fascists, being better is not a matter of social class or circumstance but of race and nationality.

 In Fascism, the greatest good could be achieved when the superior people put themselves in the service of an organization that would permit them to engage in this perpetual struggle to kill others who are inferior. Under this system, all human interactions, including economic exchange, come under the sway of the state and the leader. No dogma, discipline suffices. The Italians under Mussolini and the Germans under Hitler were the first to elevate fascist practices to the heights of philosophy after the First world War. One can still find expressions of fascist principles among right-wing terrorist organizations, secret paramilitary groups defending dictators, religious cults etc.

Ideology in Our Day A. Feminism is anchored on the belief that women are at least the equals of men, that they deserve equal inclusion in society and that they have been denied that status for centuries of human history.
Early feminists were not seeking to create a new ideology, they simply wanted to modify those that exist, notably, liberalism and Marxist socialism. Contemporary feminists have placed more and more emphasis on themes of their own: the idea of the patriarchal society in which the oppression of women by men precedes all other forms of oppression. The poststructuralist feminists argue that women can only break free of the confines of patriarchal language and practice by challenging/deconstructing all established categories of social identity (race, class, gender)


1.

FACTORS that contributed to the emergence of Modern-Day Womens Movements:

Climate of Social Change. (Civil rights movements in the United States) Sense of Collective Injustice. Organization. It was made possible because of the creation of communication networks among politically active young women. Structural Change. Women started to marry and have children later. More women realized that they have more time for work outside of their homes.

2. 3.
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B. Ethnic Nationalism is sub-nationalism based on ethnicity Nationalism is the belief that the interests of ones own nation must take precedence over those of any individual, any group, any other nation andwhen they are in conflictthose of the state itself.

 The rise of nationalism tends to be strongly associated with those times when a people are reaching out collectively to maximize their collective power either by extending their dominion over other peoples (expansionist nationalism) or by freeing themselves from domination by others (rebellion against colonial domination). In ethnic nationalism, the domination that is resented may or may not have been originally established by imperial conquest but it is always regarded as imposed by persons who are not like them. Ethnic nationalism has become a driving force for political change. However, others believe that it is still not an ideology because it is largely without content. It simply suggests that if you keep cheering for your nation long and hard enough, other problems will sort themselves out (ex. problems of unemployment, economic growth and improvement of the human condition)

C. Religious Fundamentalism is anchored on the belief that the truth can be found in the sacred texts of their religion, that in respecting that truth they live in a wellordered world, but that the tradition that guarantees them religious truth is threatened. (Neils C. Nielsen)
Notable Characteristics of Religious Fundamentalism: 1. The division of the world into believers and nonbelievers. 2. The sense of being the specially chosen people 3. The belief in the pre-ordained destiny that includes the creation of a new heaven on earth 4. The conviction that a sinister opposition is at work to attempt to prevent the inevitable millennium 5. Conversion means an altogether total transformation, a complete and drastic change.

 Fundamentalists share more explicitly political beliefs. If all truths can be found in the sacred texts, then how to set up a government must also be in accordance with what is written in those texts. Religious fundamentalists seek to establish a society in which the modern secular division between private and public is abolished. In such a state, all human behaviors would be governed by religious teachings. The religious state knows what God requires and sees to it that He is obeyed. Religious fundamentalism believes that the modern state has lost its way, that socio-economic institutions must be closely governed by religious precepts and that a new day is coming when religious governance will prevail. The means of moving toward a religious state vary.

The Language of Ideology Terms that are often misused: Left is used for ideologies that take a positive view of human nature and demonstrate a conviction that change and progress are necessary and possible to improve the human condition. (Liberalism, Feminism and Socialism) Right is used for ideologies that take a more pessimistic view of human nature and a conviction that it is important to maintain tradition and order. (Conservatism, Religious Fundamentalism, Fascism) Democracy is not an ideology. It is simply a description of the relationship between the people and their leaders. Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism are not ideologies. They are political systems in which political power is concentrated in the hands of a few.

Key Characteristics of Major Political Ideologies Preferred Means of Effecting Change Far Left: Revolution Center: Persuasion and democratic elections Far Right: Coup detat View of Human Nature Far Left: Predominantly unselfish and social Center: Somewhat selfish, yet social Far Right: Selfish, unsocial Role of State: Far Left: Ensure fair distribution of wealth Center: Protect Individual liberty Far Right: Total Control

 Most Important Values Far Left: Economic Equality Center: Freedom and political equality Far Right: Order Placement in the Political Spectrum Communism (Extreme Socialism): Far Left Socialism, Feminism: Left Liberalism: Center Conservatism, Religious Fundamentalism: Right Fascism: Far Right Daniel Bell, a Harvard sociologist advanced the thesis that the great ideological debates were coming to an end. The focus of the debate would be on the technical questions of how to run the welfare state.

Francis Fukuyama, a political scientist, advanced the thesis that with the end of ideology comes the end of history in the sense of the struggle of great ideas. According to him, life is getting boring.
Ideological debates continue because of the following: 1. The collapse of communism in Europe does not disprove Marxs original ideas. 2. There are other ideologies besides socialism. 3. Socialist thoughts are still alive even in capitalist democratic nations.