Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: False Consciousness, Political Compass, Environmentalism

• School: Western University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: Political Science 1020E
• Professor: Charles Jones

Document Summary

Set goals, shape political systems (how we organize our society) Ideologies aim to understand, interpret, explain, and evaluate the social world. They unify groups or classes around a set of beliefs and values. Science of ideas: the study of the origin of our ideas and their laws of operation (tracy, 1795) Aim is to improve the rationality of public discourse in the name of progress and truth. Early 1800s: napoleon supports a return to an alliance with the catholic church and tradition. Karl mar(cid:454) and friedrich engels" critical perspective on ideolog(cid:455) (cid:894)1846(cid:895) (cid:862)the (cid:396)uling ideas of eve(cid:396)y age a(cid:396)e the ideas of the (cid:396)uling class(cid:863) Ruling illusions that conceal exploitative social relations and provide a rationale for class oppression. False consciousness: makes the status quo seem natural. A set of ideas that provides the basis for organized political action, whether aimed at preserving, modifying, or overthrowing the existing system of power.