RULING IDEAS

The power of ideology

Ideological Brands

Why ideology?

We are considering how society remains (reasonably) ordered and able to function despite its divisions

Moreover, society is reproduced without the direct need for violence or direct coercion and without overt conflict

Ideology, the ‘common sense’ through which we understand the world, is the means through which consent to this order is manufactured and maintained

Today

1. The importance of ideological understandings

2. Ideology as an illusionary bias

3. Ideology and cynical enjoyment

4. Ideology as an imaginary comfort

Our question

Using examples from contemporary Britain, critically discuss the role of ideology in

maintaining elite privilege

What is ideology?

Ideology is a system of ideas, or a way of thinking, that relies on supporting assumptions about how is the world and how it should be

In the most basic sense ideology is a set of beliefs: our understanding of the cultural, economic, political and social ‘common sense’

But does ideology function to manipulate the truth or organise our thoughts?

Ideological fairness

Both leaders use the term ‘fairness’

What do they mean by ‘fairness’?

Are they ideologically biased or do they just view the world in a different way?

Structures come to life

We experience ideology as the internal lens through which we view the world (an attitude towards the world), but ideology is created socially through social institutions and structures We have our own ideological positions but these are taken within a pre-existing

environment into which we are inducted

Whilst we are born as individuals, we become ‘subjects’ on the basis of our ideological influences and the way we imagine and represent our world, as well as how we think it should be

Most of this process is unconscious – we don’t reflect on ideology, we just do because it feels ‘natural’ or common sense to us

THE SUBJECT

What are assuming?

While many ideologies can be given a political or cultural name e.g. liberal or conservative, we can simply think of them as ‘common sense’ attitudes about the world about which we have some attachment

In regards to universities, do you (strongly) agree/disagree that… 1. Universities should focus on teaching the skills needed by employers

2. The point of university is to be critical of society

3. Because university graduates have higher salaries, they should be prepared to pay the full cost of their education

Can you identify an ideological position that represents your ‘natural’ thoughts about the role of universities

Why do you have this attitude?

Choosing ideology

Our ideas, beliefs and attitudes do not ‘fall out of the sky’ upon us, nor do we often actively choose them

Instead we are socialised into certain ways of thinking at both a primary level and through ideological practices

We cannot instantly change our ideologies because we have some attachment to them

The question is whether ideology just happens, or is it manipulated by ruling interests

Ideological bias

The predominate view of ideology is as a (subjective) bias that prevents us seeing the (objective) truth

We think of ideologies as biased or unbalanced as opposed to rationally constructed perspectives

It is a legitimate and powerful political strategy to call someone or something ‘ideological’

Therefore to critique an ideology is to show how it has manipulated a situation to give a false representation, often in an indirect way

Ideological super-structures

For Karl Marx ideological illusions were biased towards those in power, specifically the economic interests of the bourgeoisie

He argued that ideology was the super-structure that reflected the economic base: the ideas that legitimised economic exploitation

Ideological structures are able to maintain the system of production by providing explanations for its existence

Therefore ideology is not only biased, but deliberately manipulated for the benefit of powerful (economic) interests

False consciousness

Marx suggested that the elementary function of ideology is when ‘they don’t know that they are doing it, but they are doing it’

Workers do not reject capitalism because they are not aware of their exploitation (a ‘false consciousness’) as a result of the ideological frameworks that dominate our thinking

Moreover, we are not aware of our biases because we think and feel in the way those in power want us to think: we might feel exploited by the economic system, but happily go shopping

Politicians act to create this ‘false’ consciousness, appealing to people in ways that support certain ways of thinking

Ruling ideas

Beyond Marx’s economic analysis, the dominant ideology thesis suggests that one form of ideological common sense dominates a functioning society

We know this because certain ideas don’t make ‘sense’ within this functioning of ideology

This ideology is the ideology of the ruling elite, whether economic, political or otherwise – if the dominant ideology didn’t support the existing social organisation, there would be mass dissent (or mass repression)

As a consequence, if the common sense of society is that of the ruling class, then individuals will see the world through the eyes of the ruling classes

Ideological riots

As we have seen, many politicians argued that the 2011 riots were an example of ‘criminality’ or ‘greed’

Others have argued that the riots were caused by systematic injustices

One position is arguing that if social exclusion was a factor in the riots it is the fault of the excluded

The other position suggests that exclusion is caused by structural influences outside of their control

Both arguments have assumptions about how the world is and how it should be and both arguments present their analysis as neutral and objective

These ideological positions have been externalised in practices of communities and institutions, such as in the police and courts

Are either of these positions ideologically biased?

Hegemonic battles

Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci argued that society is not dominated by a single ideology but, instead, multiple ideologies battle for the place of ‘hegemony’

We might have the ideology of the elite battling with the ideology of the working class

Elections are fought through the battle for hegemony and the way we understand the world

The ruling class have an advantage in controlling the means through which these ideas are propagated via the corporate ownership of the media and the consequent profit motive

Understanding immigration

As we discussed last week, immigration has become a significant political issue in Britain

Common sense public opinion has shifted and the presence of UKIP has forced the Conservative Party and the Labour Party to change their positions on immigration

Hegemonic battles are often fought over the language used

Thinking about an organisation you have been

involved with, was the ‘common sense’ controlled by

the most influential?

Ideological state apparatuses

Althusser argued that ideology is not just in our heads, but in our material practices – ideology is what we do

Ideology is embedded in state and social institutions, the ‘Ideological State Apparatuses’ (ISA’s), in what they do, rather than what they say e.g. Not ‘We are the police, we stop and search Black people’

Althusser argued that in order for society to be reproduced it is vital that we are able to perform our ‘duties’ independently, rather than being coerced

ISA’s ‘interpellate’ individuals as subjects of the ideological order, giving them an identity within the order

The University apparatus

According to Althusser’s definition, universities are an ideological state institution

Universities are a material institution that reproduces ideology to which students are subjects

The university acts to reproduces ideology through its practices

The ‘employability agenda’ is an example of this process, whereby the role of education is make you more employable

How does Brunel influence your identity?

Cynical Reason

Slavoj Žižek argues that Marx’s ideological maxim of ‘they don’t know what they are doing, but they are doing it’, should be reversed

‘They know what they are doing, but they are doing it anyway’

It is not that we don’t know that we are being exploited, or living an illusion, but we are cynical about it

We see ideological ‘distortion’ and believe that we are above it, but our actions don’t change

Ideological elitism

In the lecture on elitism I presented a range of statistics that revealed that women, ethnic minorities and the working classes were vastly under-represented in high-status social institutions

This conclusion appeared to be accepted by the majority of the class: you know it

But no one seemed particularly bothered: you carry on regardless

Do you feel cynical, and why might that be?

A necessary illusion?

If ideology is how we relate to the world, cynicism is one way of reacting to contradictory information without having to change the way we act and, most importantly, feel

Ideology may express normative ideas about how the world should be, but it is also necessary to maintain our sanity

We resist when our ideologies are threatened and are shocked when something forces a change in our ideological subjectivity

Existential security

In the absence of a determining reference point, ideology makes the world meaningful and comprehensible for us

Everyone sees the world through an ideological viewpoint: there is no escape from ideology

Because we can only see ideology through an ideological viewpoint, it is impossible to be biased: there are ideological positions, but no objective ideologies

Ideology functions by reduces a complex world into an understandable framework

Exclusive ideologies

In order to perform this reduction, ideological perceptions exclude elements that threaten our understanding (the bits that don’t fit our common sense)

This social exclusion is the elementary operation of ideology: in order to secure ideological attachments we find someone to blame it on

In pre-Nazi Germany, Hitler presented the ‘Jew’ as the cause of all of Germany’s problems, thus reducing a complex crisis to an understandable situation

Likewise, immigrants and outsiders are often presented as the embodiment of our struggles to maintain our ideological identities

These fears are embodied in horror or action movies by a monster or villain

Have you been part of an organisation or in a situation

that excluded people who didn’t fit into with the

common sense attitudes?

Enjoy!

Žižek also argues that ideology is not something we just believe in, but have some emotional attachment to

Ideology not only allows us to have symbolic and imaginary attachments that secure our identities, but is often expressed in enjoyable ways

The ‘cultural industry’ both ‘seduces’ us into consent and portrays ideological messages about who we are and how we should act

What are the ideological themes in The Dark Knight

Rises?

Ideological critique

If ideologies cannot be accused of bias, we are critiquing what they do, rather than whether they are true

In a cynical world, presenting people with evidence that contradicts their ideology is often ineffective

Moreover, people have a strong emotional attachment to their ideological commitments – we enjoy ideology

As a consequence, politics itself is quite cynical: how do you resist in the 21st century?

Ideological summation

Ideologies are the views, beliefs and attitudes we take towards the world

Ideologies are also externalised in material or institutional processes to which we are ‘subjected’

Ideology functions through social exclusion of those who do not fit

We cannot ever escape ideology and thus the language of ‘bias’ becomes unproductive

Our age is marked by the cynicism of ideology

Next Week

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN: RELIGION, COMMUNITY AND IDENTITY

READINGS

Aldridge, A. (2006) Religion. In G. Payne (Ed.) Social Divisions (second edition), Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Crow, G and Maclean, C. (2006) Community. In G. Payne (Ed.) Social Divisions (second edition), Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Review assessment feedback

In general I was very pleased – the average grade was 63%/B

Almost all students were able to select an appropriate issue and demonstrate how academic ideas allowed different ways of understanding

The biggest errors were in the depth of reasoning and in the use of evidence

Please read through your feedback and address the issues I have identified