Political Ideologies

Political Ideologies (Arguelles, 2014)

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POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES

Cleve Kevin Robert V. Arguelles,MA Philippine Studies*, University of the

Philippines

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LEARNING OUTLINE

Understanding “ideology”

Core themes of different ideologies

The political spectrum


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WHAT IS “IDEOLOGY”?

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ISM’s!

We are basically going to be looking at many of the words ending in –ism, such as liberalism, conservatism, socialism, communism, religious fundamentalism, feminism, totalitarianism etc.


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What is ideology?

• There really is no clear and agreed upon definition of ideology. It is a difficult term to really define properly- an essentially contested concept.

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Origin of the term

• The term was created during the French Revolution by Antoine Destutt de Tracy (1754-1836), and first used in public in 1796• For de Tracy, idéologie referred to a new ‘science of ideas’, or an idea-ology, like in biology, or psychology.

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Origin of the term

“The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time the ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it” Marx and Engels, The German Ideology

The use of ideology as a political term has a lot to do with the work of Karl Marx (1818-1883)

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Origin of the term

• The defining feature of ideology in the Marxist sense is that it is false: it mystifies and confuses subordinate classes by concealing from the contradictions upon which all class societies are based.

• Nevertheless, Marx did not believe that all political views had an ideological character. He held that his own work, which attempted to uncover the process of class exploitation and oppression, was scientific.

• In his view, a clear distinction could be drawn between science and ideology, truth and falsehood.

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Redefining political ideology

• The emergence of totalitarian dictatorships in the interwar period encouraged writers such as Karl Popper, JL Talmon and Hannah Arendt to view ideology as an instrument of social control to ensure compliance and sub-ordination.

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Redefining political ideology

• A distinctively use of the term ideology has been developed by thinkers such as Michael Oakeshott.

• This view reflects a characteristically conservative skepticism about the value of rationalism that is born out of the belief that the world is largely beyond the capacity of the human mind to fathom.

• From this perspective, ideologies are seen as abstract systems of thought: that is, as sets of ideas that distort political reality because they claim to explain what is, frankly, incomprehensible.

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Social-scientific definition of ideology:

An ideology is a more or less coherent set of ideas that provides the basis for organised political action, whether this is intended to preserve, modify or overthrow the existing system of power. All ideologies therefore have the following features:

a) They offer an account of the existing order, usually in the form of a ‘world view’

b) They advance a model of a desired future, a vision of the ‘good society’

c) They explain how political change can and should be brought about – how to get from (a) to (b)

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Take note!

Ideology influences all of our lives, but it works in such a way that we are often unaware of its influence- like the air we breathe!

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Think of ideology as a pair of goggles!Whichever pair of goggles you put on, changes the way which you see the world. It allows you to interpret the world and to make decisions! Now you must work out, which ideology has already influenced your way of thinking and looking at the world!


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LIBERALISMCore themes

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This ideology is in a sense the ideology of the ‘industrialised West’

It has a focus on a particular set of values: the individual, freedom, reason, justice, toleration.

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Origin of Liberalism

• Liberalism was the product of the breakdown of feudalism and the growth, in its place, of a market or capitalist society.

• Early liberalism certainly reflected the aspirations of a rising industrial middle class, and liberalism and capitalism have been closely linked ever since.

• It attacked absolutism and feudal privilege, advocating constitutional and later, representative government.

• A distinctively economic creed had developed that extolled the virtues of laissez-faire capitalism and condemned all forms of government intervention.

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Liberalism: The Individual

• Liberalism emphasises the importance of the individual, both the uniqueness of each individual and at the same time the equality of all individuals.

• However, as individuals do not possess the same levels of talent or willingness to work, liberals do NOT endorse social equality.

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Liberalism: The Individual

Thus, liberalism emphasises a commitment to individual freedom. This does not mean though, that an individual is free to do whatever they like. There are still constraints on what you are actually allowed to do, one constraint being that you are not allowed to hurt another individual.

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Liberalism: Faith in reason

Having faith in reason, or the ability to use one’s intellect in taking action in the world, is also a central component. Individuals are considered the best judges of their own interests.

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Liberalism: Justice and tolerance

• Liberals look at justice in that each person should be given what they are ‘due.’• Because individual rights are central, this means that liberalism believes in tolerance and pluralism, or the idea that different moral, cultural and political cultures can exist together.

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Liberalism: Constitutionalism

• Although liberals see government as a vital guarantee of order and stability in society, they are constantly aware od the danger that government may become a tyranny against the individual.•They therefore believe in limited government.

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Classical Liberalism

• A commitment to an extreme form of individualism. Human beings are see as egoistical, self-seeking and largely self-reliant creatures.

• This atomist view of society is underpinned by a belief in negative liberty, meaning non-interference, or the absence of external constraints upon the individual.

• The state is a necessary evil- necessary because it establishes order and security but an evil because it imposes a collective will upon society, thus limiting the freedom of the individual.

Modern Liberalism

• The shift was born out of the recognition that industrial capitalism had merely generated new forms of injustice and left the mass of the population subject to the vagaries of the market.• This view provided the basis

for social welfare or welfare liberalism.• Characterized by the

recognition that state intervention, particularly state welfare, can enlarge liberty by safeguarding individuals from the social evils that blight individual existence.

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Where can I see evidence of liberalism today?

Everywhere! Have a look around, and you will see that the ideas of liberalism are central to our lives. What examples of liberalism can you find just by looking at your self, school, church or family?


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CONSERVATISMCore themes

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In trying to resist the pressures unleashed by the growth of liberalism, socialism and nationalism, conservatism stood in defence of an increasingly embattled traditional social order.

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Conservatism: Core themes

Central beliefs of conservatism are based around the ideas of:• tradition• human imperfection• organic society• hierarchy and authority• property

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Conservatism: Tradition

• Conservatives argue for the preservation of ‘tradition’, in particular with regards to values, practices and institutions• They see tradition as being one of the foundations of society; without it, they believe society would crumble.

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Conservatism: Humans are imperfect

• Conservatives argue that human beings are imperfect and not perfectible, thus they will need stability and security in their lives, which the government can provide.

• In this view, human beings are limited, dependent and security-seeking creatures.

• In addition, individuals are morally corrupt: they are tainted by selfishness, greed and thirst for power.

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Conservatism: Organic society

Conservatives believe that human beings cannot exist outside of society, or the social groups that nurture him/her, such as family, friends, colleagues, local community, and the nation.

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Conservatism: Hierarchy and authority

• Believe that society is hierarchical, and that authority develops naturally.

• Gradations of social position and status are natural and inevitable.

• A person’s station in life is determined largely by luck and the accident of birth.

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Conservatism: Property

• Conservatives have a firm belief in the importance of owning property, and encourage private savings and investment in property; property is seen to be a way of creating a stable world. • People are less likely to damage someone else’s property if they also own property.

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Paternalistic Conservatism

• In this view, duty is the price of privilege: the powerful and propertied inherit a responsibility to look after the less well-off in the broader interests of social cohesion and unity.

New Right

• Support of the goal of a strong but minimal state: the free economy and the strong state.• The principal neoliberal

goal is to “roll back the frontiers of the state,” in the belief that unregulated market capitalism will deliver efficiency, growth and widespread prosperity.• The New Right wishes,

above all, to restore authority and return to traditional values, notably those linked to the family, religion and the nation.


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Liberalism vs. Conservatism

Can you identify specific policy differences between liberalism and conservatism?


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SOCIALISMCore themes

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Socialism developed as a reaction against the emergence of industrial capitalism.


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Core Themes

• Community• Cooperation• Equality• Class politics• Common ownership

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Community

• Human beings are tied to one another by the bonds of a common humanity.• ‘We are all brothers and sisters.’•Emphasis on nurture over nature, explaining individual behaviour mainly in terms of social factor than innate qualities.

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View on human nature

• Belief in the plasticity of human nature, or that humans can change and be moulded by life experience.• Firm belief that humans are not predestined, but have the capacity to become something greater than what they are.

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Cooperation not competition

Socialists believe that the natural relationship among humans is one of cooperation rather than competition.

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Equality

• Socialists are committed to equality.• They believe that a measure of social

equality is the essential guarantee of social stability and cohesion, encouraging individuals to identify with

their fellow human beings.

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Social Class

Emphasis is on social class as the determining factor of society.

What do you notice about the boys in this picture?

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Common ownership

• Disagree with the idea of private property, as they see this as one of the causes of competition and therefore social inequality.• Thus, have a view that all property should be communal• ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his need’ – Karl Marx

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Socialism vs. Communism

• These two ideologies are often confused with one another.•Communism is thought to be a classless society, where there is no hierarchy or authority. It has been argued by Marxists to be the end point of human development.• Socialism is seen to be a middle point between capitalism and communism, where the state attempts to re-direct society towards its communist ideal.

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Revolutionary socialism VS Social democracy

• In its original form, socialism is revolutionary in character. Its goal was to abolish a capitalist economy based on market exchange, and replace it with a qualitatively different socialist society, usually to be constructed on the principle of common ownership.

• However, a reformist socialist tradition emerged that reflected the gradual integration of the working classes into capitalist society through an improvement in working conditions and wages and the growth of trade unions and socialist political parties.

• This brand of socialism proclaimed the possibility of a peaceful, gradual and legal transition to socialism, brought about the adoption of the parliamentary road.

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Revolutionary socialism VS Social democracy

• Revolutionary socialists, following the example of Lenin and the Bolsheviks, called themselves communists, while reformists socialist, who practiced a form of constitutional politics, embraced what increasingly came to be called social democracy.

• This rivalry focused not only on the most appropriate means of achieving socialism, but also on the nature of the socialist goal itself.

• Social democrats turned their back on the revolutionary principles such as common ownership and planning, and recast socialism in terms of welfare and economic management.


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Pause: Comparing the three we have looked at so farView Liberalism Conservatism Socialism

Human nature Inherently good

Inherently imperfect and selfish

Inherently good

Of individual Free to pursue individual goals

Individual is to obey the power structures

Supports the common good

Of society Made up of individuals, working together

Hierarchical – divisions are natural

Society more important than the individual

Private property

Used for personal benefit

Necessary for stability

The cause of inequality


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FASCISMCore themes

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Origin

Whilst liberalism, conservatism and socialism are ideas that have their roots in the 19th Century, fascism was born in the period between the first world wars, and emerged most dramatically in Italy and Germany.

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Italian Fascism

• Benito Mussolini and his Fascist Party came to power in Italy in the 1920s and lasted until the second World War, upon which he was executed by the Italian partisans and hung by his feet in a square in Milano.

• Statism

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German Fascism

• Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party came to power in the 1930s and lasted until the Second World War, until the defeat of Germany by the Allies.

• Aryanism

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Features of fascism

It is a difficult ideology to define, but some of its common themes include:• A reaction against rationalism, or the use

of reason to make sense of the world.• A belief that life is struggle, and that the

strongest survive (influenced by Darwin’s idea of natural selection).• Does not believe in equality; instead

believes in elitism, or that some people are born leaders.• An extreme embrace of nationalism;

incorporating a belief that certain nations are superior to others.

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Features of fascism

• Fascism has an anti-character. It is defined largely by what is opposes: it is a form of anti-capitalism, anti-liberalism, anti-individualism, anti-communism, and so on.


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ANARCHISMCore themes

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Anarchism

• Two rival camps: individualist anarchists and collectivists anarchists.

• Individual anarchists believed that free and rational human beings would be able to manage their affairs peacefully and spontaneously, government being merely a form of unwanted coercion.

• Collectivist anarchists stress the human capacity for social solidarity that arises from our sociable, gregarious and essentially cooperative natures.


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RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM

Core themes

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Religious Fundamentalism

Rejects the distinction between politics and religion; for fundamentalists, ‘politics is religion’ (Khomeini, leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979).

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Religious Fundamentalism

• Maintains a commitment to ideas and values that are seen as basic or fundamental.• Most often turns its back on modernity,

or the modern world we live in. Modernity is seen to be the root of decay in our world, where values are lacking and moral social fabric has disintegrated.• Very often it is a militaristic ideology,

and the use of violence to achieve its aims is common.


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ENVIRONMENTALISM

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Environmentalism

A belief that nature is the most important focus of social organisation.


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FEMINISM

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Feminism

Important ideology that changed the focus of ideology from looking at the public to the private sphere. That is, rather than looking at the politics of the state level, they started to look at the politics of the individual. Key to this was looking at the power relationship that exists between men and women.

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Feminism

• Use of the concept of ‘patriarchy’ to describe the power relationship between men and women.• Made a distinction between the idea of

‘sex’ and ‘gender’: sex is a biological term defined by birth, whereas gender is a cultural term which incorporates learning how to be female or male.


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THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM

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The Political Spectrum

• You may have heard at various times terms used like ‘political left’ and ‘political right.’• This is quite a confusing and misleading area in understanding political science.•The origin of the terms dates back to the French Revolution and the seating arrangements adopted by different groups in parliament.

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The Political Spectrum

Traditionally, the political spectrum looked like this:

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Meanings of ‘left’ and ‘right’

LEFT

A broad ideological disposition that is characterised by sympathy for principles such as liberty, equality, fraternity and progress. It is also associated with preference for equality and common ownership.

RIGHT

A broad ideological disposition that is characterised by sympathy for principles such as authority, order, hierarchy and duty

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Other models of the spectrum

This linear version of left and right, however, is a simplistic division. Over the years, other models have come to expand the idea of a political spectrum into a second dimension. The below horseshoe example became quite popular in the 1950s and 1960s.

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The Political Compass

The below diagram is of a very interesting way to describe the political spectrum and one which takes into account both economic and social factors.

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Positioning of contemporary international leaders

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Traditional international leaders

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Where do you stand on the political compass? Go to http://www.politicalcompass.org/index to take the test and find out if you are a communist, fascist, budding dictator or more of a middle man!

http://www.politicalcompass.org/index

http://www.politicalcompass.org/index

POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES

Cleve Kevin Robert V. ArguellesMA Philippine Studies*, University of the

Philippines

Date post:	22-Nov-2014
Category:	News & Politics
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Political Ideologies

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