154 ideology/ideological
ideas and the way people construct their reality (in-
cluding social and governmental institutions) become
the truth. Kant acknowledged an objective world out-
side the autonomous person; Fichte sees the whole of
reality in the subjective perception of human beings.
Hegel tries to reconcile these in his DIALECTICwhich
sees subject and object as interrelated realities, each
affecting the other in a totality. History becomes the
growing self-consciousness of this dialectical reality,
which institutes political, economic, and social organ-
isms. Green inserts a theological element in his philo-
sophical idealism in which the mind of God (or
“eternal intelligence”) contains both subject and object
in total reality.
The political consequences of these philosophical
idealisms is to take seriously historical conceptions of
democracy, JUSTICE, and so on and to understand how
powerful ideas are in shaping political reality. Thus,
political theory as a field of study is a form of idealism.
IDEOLOGYand the study of historical ideologies is a
form of intellectual idealism.
Further Readings
Milne, A. J. M. The Social Philosophy of English Idealism.Lon-
don: Allen & Unwin, 1962.
Plant, R. Hegel,2nd ed. Oxford, Eng.: B. Blackwell, 1983.
Richter, M. The Politics of Conscience: T. H. Green and His Age.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1964.
ideology/ideological
A theory or a set of beliefs about the political world
that order our perception of events and explain how
society operates. For example, CONSERVATIVEideology
brings certain assumptions about HUMAN NATURE, his-
tory, politics, economics, and society that cause it to
identify problems in a certain way, prescribe solutions,
and explain occurrences in the world. LIBERALideology
views the same environment by different categories. So
where conservatives (BURKE) like tradition, the classics,
AUTHORITY, and moderate change, they see the crises in
the world as signs of RADICAL new ideas, rebellion
against morality, and perversion. Liberal ENLIGHTEN-
MENTideology expresses an optimistic view of human
nature and social PROGRESS, while seeing TRADITIONand
conservatives as causing the problems.
So, an ideology is simply a coherent worldview
involving a pattern of symbols and beliefs that explain
and evaluate society. Among the dominant ideologies
in the West are (1) CHRISTIAN, (2) CLASSICAL REPUBLICAN,
(3) Enlightenment liberal, (4) MARXIST COMMUNISM, and
(5) POST-MODERNISM. The study of these ideologies (by
MANNHEIM, MARX, CRITICAL THEORY, GRAMSCI, Lukacs), or
paradigms, tend to see them as attached to and justify-
ing some individual or social interest. So Marxism, for
example, sees all political theories as ideologies that
support an economic ruling class. Karl Marx would
judge the philosophy of John LOCKE(or British liberal-
ism) as “bourgeois ideology” because it justifies private
PROPERTYownership, wage labor, and market econom-
ics, which support CAPITALISM. But the economic class
theory of Marx with its emphasis on POWER, class con-
flict, and exploitation, itself becomes an ideology that
underlies much of sociology and POLITICALLY CORRECT
attitudes in academia (Michael FOUCAULT). James D.
HUNTER’s conception of ideologies in the book Culture
Warsintegrates them into moral attitudes and political
activism.
Most often, ideology simply refers to a political
slant or opinion (such as REPUBLICAN[PARTY] ideology
as the ideology of conservative president Ronald REA-
GAN—free markets, reduced taxes, increased military
spending, and so on; or DEMOCRATIC[PARTY] ideology
of social-welfare programs, CIVIL RIGHTS activism,
etc.). Ideology then is just a set of coordinated ideas
or positions on correct policy matters (e.g., LEFTIST
ideology; CHRISTIAN RIGHTideology). In PLURALISM, it is
considered normal that any interest group would
have an ideological agenda, but in James MADISON’s
constitutional scheme, those competing ideologies
will balance and cancel each other out.Further Readings
Cox, R. H. Ideology, Politics and Political Theory.Stamford,
Conn. Wadsworth, 1969.
Lichtheim, G. The Concept of Ideology, and Other Essays.New
York: Vintage Books, 1967.
Mannheim, K. Ideology and Utopia.New York: Harcourt, Brace
& World, 1936.Ignatius Loyola, St. (1401–1556) Religious
and political leader, founder of the Jesuit Order in the
Roman Catholic Church
The Society of Jesus or Jesuits was founded in 1540
and spread Catholic doctrine through extensive educa-
tional and missionary activity. By the 20th century,
Jesuits had infiltrated most countries or continents in
the world, including India, China, Africa, Japan, Rus-
sia, South America, and Europe. Its principal aims