POL S101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Jerry Falwell, Social Conservatism, Political Compass
18 Apr 2016
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An analytic concept referring to a web of ideas and political projects. The term can be traced back to the french revolution. Group emerged called the ideolouges who studied the ideas. Negative connotation: ideology as a distorted sense of reality. Marx (1818-1883) (ideology isn"t necessarily a good thing. Ideology allows the ruling class to maintain power and gain it) Neutral connotation: ideology as the study of ideas. Geertz (1926-2006) (ideologies only form at points of political or social disruptions. Crisis in the way we understand the world, new ideologies are formed to help us understand the world we live in. ) Ideology: a set of ideas supporting a particular social order, and the sets of ideas challenging that social order. Some argue that ideology is best understood as a compass with two axes: economic(traditional ideological spectrum) and social(authoritarian(fascism) vs. libertarian(anarchism)) Corresponds with the rise of capitalism, demise of feudalism, reformation and the enlightenment.
