What is an ideology?
 An ideology is a set of conscious and unconscious ideas
that constitute one's goals, expectations, and actions.
 It basically speculates about how the things ought to be in
the society or surrounding world.
 Ideologies are systems of abstract thought applied to public
matters and thus make this concept central to politics.
 An ideology consists of a set of ideas and beliefs through
which we perceive the outside world and act upon our
information.
 It is a medium through which we try to learn and
comprehend the world; but it also generates emotions
which hold people together.
 Ideologies are action-oriented.
 That is, they consist of ideas shared by many people who
act in unison and who are influenced to act in unison in
order to accomplish posited ends.
 What separates theory or philosophy from ideology is that
while the first two involve contemplation, organization of
ideas and whenever possible demonstration, ideology
incites people to action.
 Frederick Watkins introduced his study of a broad array of
political ideologies by identifying five distinctive
characteristics of ideology:
 Political ideologies have been based on the revolutionary
conviction that life here on the earth is capable of being
perfected by human knowledge and action;
 Ideologies self-consciously evoke "the people" as the
ultimate beneficiary of progress and ideological victory;
 The goals to which modern ideologies address themselves
are typically utopian and apocalyptic;
 Ideologists habitually think in the simplified terms of a
struggle between "us" and "them," friend and enemy;
 Until the end of the nineteenth century, and to some extent
even now, successful ideological movements have derived
much of their strength from the extreme optimism of their
views regarding human progress.
The characteristics of political ideologies may be summarized
by noting their following traits:
1. A coherent set of views on politics
2. Produced by intellectual elites
3. Dissemination among the mass population
4. Subject to alteration
5. Susceptible to distortion and oversimplification
6. Powerful motivators of human behavior
7. Manipulated by political movement leaders
 The term «Ideology» was most likely coined first by the
French philosopher, Count Destutt de Tracy, who used the
term in the 1700s to describe the more specific definition of
the science of ideas.
 Today the term ideology is used in so many ways, that it is
often difficult to know how to describe it.
What is political ideology?
 A set of beliefs and ideas that one can apply onto policies
and events; one’s political moral code and world view.
 Political ideologies are the sets of basic beliefs about the
political, economic, social and cultural affairs held by the
majority of people within a society.
 The theory of ideology takes off with the emergence of
ideologies at the end of the 18th century and further
develops, most notably, in the first decades of the 19th
century.
 The history of ideology and ideologies as historical
phenomena are a relatively new branches in science.
When Ideologies First Emerged?
 The genesis of ideologies is usually situated in the ‘Sattelzeit’
(1750-1850), an Era which saw the rise of tensions as a result of
modernization from the late 18th century.
 The great economic, social and political changes caused by the
forces of industrialization and the French Revolution created a
great fault plane in European history.
 Giving meaning to and finding a position in this fault plane
between old and modern times, according to some, has led to
new notions and definitions of social change and mobility.
 In this crisis of meaning, which is in itself a reaction to and
consequence of the Enlightenment, ideology has been regarded
as a ‘secular’ religion.
 Ideology expressed the search for a new spiritual
community and social cohesion in a time of transition and
existential insecurity.
 Every single one of the most significant modern political
ideologies, notably liberalism, nationalism, socialism and
conservatism, are into existence.
 Political ideologies basically divided into two wings today:
The left and the right.
The left and the right approach political issues from different
perspectives:
THE LEFT
 Liberty: The freedom of speech and the right to dissent.
 Equality: A classless society with the redistribution of wealth
through a welfare state.
 Fraternity: The communal brotherhood, working and living as
one.
THE RIGHT
 Authority: The preservation of order through an evolved
authority.
 Hierarchy: The continuation of the existing social order.
Philosophy vs Ideology
 Ideology refers to a set of beliefs, doctrines that back a
certain social institution or a particular organization.
 Philosophy refers to looking at life in a pragmatic manner
and attempting to understand why life is as it is and the
principles governing behind it.
 Ideology expresses dissatisfaction with the current state
and aspires to be some future state whereas philosophy
tries to understand the world in its current state.
 In other words, ideology is aimed at changing the world
whereas philosophy is aimed at seeking the truth.
 Ideology is rigid and once fixed on certain beliefs, refuses to
change its stance irrespective of any change in the surrounding
environment.
 Challenging an ideologue can be the most difficult task.
 A philosopher, on the other hand, may arrive on some construct
for the basis of life and other things but will be willing to
discuss and ponder other philosophies.
 A philosopher is open minded and willing to listen to criticism
whereas an ideologue will refute anything challenging his or her
ideology outright.
 This also suggests that while philosophy encourages people to
think, ideology discourages any thinking that goes against the
basic doctrines that govern the ideology.

The purpose of any philosopher is to seek knowledge for the
sake of wisdom and truth whereas an ideologue’s sole aim is to
advocate and enforce his or her ideology wherever he can.

Philosophy requires structured thinking whereas ideology has
lot of personal emotions in play.

Philosophy is neither harmful nor helpful as there is no
advocacy behind it.

On the other hand, an ideology can bring both harm and good
to the society.

This is because the set of doctrines that govern the ideology
may always not serve universal interests and ideology demands
advocacy and conversion of other beliefs and thoughts to that
particular ideology in order to reign supreme.
 Every ideology is born out of some philosophy.
 Philosophy does not have as much impact as an ideology
would have on the world for ideology aims at spreading the
beliefs and imposing them on the rest of the society
irrespective of its relevance.
 Philosophy is objective whereas ideology is dogmatic and
refuses to participate in any discussion that does not agree
with that ideology.
What are the differences between religion and ideology?
 Ideology and religion are two terms that are often confused
to be one and the same because of the closeness in their
connotations and concepts.
 Religion is made up of belief in some super natural
controlling power especially in the form of God or gods
that are meant to be worshipped.
 This means that religion is the branch of knowledge that
deals with the methodology of worship and praise of God.
 On the other hand ideology deals with the system of ideas
at the basis of economic theory and policy.
 Religion is all about customs and protocol of a meticulous
community of people as regards their belief in superhuman
powers.
 In contrast, ideology does not deal with the customs and
manners of a social group in terms of superhuman powers
or deity.
 It is more political in nature and principles.
 Religion often develops founder and religious heads.
 On the other hand ideology comes from political leaders as
well as thinkers of economy.
 Views and beliefs are the basis of any religion.
 On the other hand ideology is based on truth and evidence.
 Religion does not need proof to prove religious truths and
is based mostly on conclusions that are logical.
 No room remains for rational conclusions in the ideology.