Ideology

January 16, 2020 2:46 PM

Introduction
- What is an ideology?
○ Ways we perceive our world (lenses)
▪ Values belief systems and world views
○ Learned but not taught
▪ Learned through observations and interactions with others/society
▪ Includes advertising, music, social events, etc.
- What do ideologies do?
○ Shape our thinking
○ Give us a sense of place, identity, right and wrong
○ Security/confidence that we know who we are
▪ And what is expected of us (and others)
- What are some examples of ideologies?
○ Liberalism
○ Nationalism
○ Populism
○ Capitalism
- Why do we study ideologies?
○ Awareness of how our identity and thinking is shaped
○ Challenge assumptions to ensure they are valid, or whether they cause undue
damage and oppression
○ Be more conscious of how our world view (ideologies) inform laws, hiring
practices, social interactions
○ Develop new (better? More accurate?) ways of thinking
Significance
- Is it important to study and critique ideologies?
○ If we are curious about why we think/act the way we do
▪ And see a need/potential for change
▪ Then yes! It is important
○ If we accept things as they are
▪ And we see no need (or possibility) of change?
▪ Then it may not be seen as important (or effective)
Challenges of Critique
- How do we critique something we are immersed in?
○ We can question our assumptions:
▪ Is what we know to be true, really true?
□ Where do those beliefs/truths come from?
□ What is the evidence?
▪ How do we (or others) benefit form these views/truths?
Benefits
- We are social creatures
○ we learn with and through social interactions
○ We influence one another at every level
- Getting better at knowledge-ing, identifying, and learning
○ How we are informed by our social interactions is
○ More effective than rejecting and/or pretending they don’t exist
Ideology in social science
- Social sciences am to explain social phenomena
○ Supply law-like generalizations
▪ Not necessarily predicting behaviour
▪ But identifying and explaining their social functions
▪ And this can be hugely beneficial
○ Gives us insight into ourselves, and or world
▪ Makes it possible to affect change

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