26th of November 2009

Ideology and propaganda

I. Ideology
There are different views on what ideology is. It:
– Has Political meaning
– Provides an interpretation of the present and a view of the desired future, which is
portrayed as being better than the present
– Each ideology includes a list of specific steps that can be taken in order to achieve
the goal
– Is oriented towards the receivers, the mass
– Are simply stated and expressed as the expression is mean to call upon the people
to join the collective effort described by the ideology → mass mobilization
Conclusions of the 5 elements:
→ political ideologies are contagious
→they look to proselytize – to recruit new believers
→are not neutral but bias and holistic
→any ideology wants to mobilize, seeks action as they cannot exist without it (any
ideology has a colectiv purpose)
→ the notion is used in a pejorative manner as they are manipulative and bias

Alain Besancon & Hanna Arendt →the regime is the main division between the two types of
ideologies [holistic and selective]. Ideologies under a free regime are less holistic than those
under a totalitarian regime.
All ideologies include specific language, terms, symbols, defend a nr of values and have carriers
(elite of the party members).
Is a main branch of political thought and uses different political concepts in a certain
combination.

Giddens →worked for the UK Labor Party; emphasizes on social democracy;

The new wave bring the renewal of social democracy:
 The old left → welfare state (classical social democracy):
○ Strong involvement of state in economic and social life
○ Demise of capitalism (the way it produces)
○ The state should restore the social balance and be an economic actor itself
○ Final purpose: redistribution of wealth by the state as to protect the citizens
(social assistance)
○ Allowing individual freedoms

 The new social democracy / Thatcherism:

 ○ Minimal intervention of the state in social life
○ Market fundamentalism
○ Nationalism
○ Free market economy
○ Thatcher privatized a nr of national services during a social crises

 The third way:

○ More to the center of political view
○ State should socially intervene → keep the welfare state but combine it with
economic liberalism
○ No rejection of individualism

Origins of the term : → the current term was more significant during the French revolution and
immediately after

Antoine de Tracy (1754 -1836) aristocratic partisan of the French revolution

→ why did the revolution lead to so much violence ?
→how could society and values change so suddenly?
He called the science of ideas and the science of the human mind - IDEOLOGY → studying the
way the human mind works (philosophically and scientifically) in order to obtain by education –
progress. Associated the term ideology to science and gave it a positive connotation.

Then the meaning quickly degenerated into a negative term by and through the works of Marx
and Engels (19th century). Ideology = a fabrication used by a group of people (the superstructure
of society) in order to justify themselves as it works for the benefit of the ruling class. [The
German ideology – 1845)
Superstructure; infrastructure(the class ruled by the superstructure; the means of production) and
religion are society divisions which are in the realm of ideas. Ideology contains legal, political,
religious, esthetical and philosophical principles that reinforce a ruling class.

The organization of means of production forms a social class. The means of production are his
criteria for delimitating eras of history → the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the
ruling ideas; the class that is the material force of society is at the meantime the ruling
intellectual force. Meanwhile he considered his views not an ideology but a scientific
understanding of history. The future would bring the success of the proletariat and its ideology
(socialism) and there shall be no more classes, no more distinction between ruled and ruler.
Materialist view: economic forces rather that ideas or leaders lead to progress. [ the official name
of the communist ideology – scientific materialist socialism]
Hegel – history as a dialectic movement (quantitative accumulation leads to qualitative change).
Particular groups would have particular ways of thinking; the system of ideas limits the questions
that can be asked as well as the answers that can be given.
According to Marx a system of views is an ideology
Lenin states that it is possible to develop a working class consciousness by different measures.

Non Marxist view of ideology:

The first attempt belongs to Karl Mannheim → “Ideology and Utopia”:
– Ideology tends to protect a status quo
– Utopia can be subversive to the status quo
– Distinguished two levels of understanding ideology:
1. Total level of ideology – is in fact the real ideology, refers to the mind of an era,
of a major group = view underworld
2. A particular way – more or less conscious view that can be manipulating

There is a dual function of any ideology: to bind people together in groups and socialites and to
shape personalities.
Anthropologists consider that ideologies offer meaningful patterns to be followed

Arendt and Popper see ideologies only in term of totalitarianism → they narrow the meaning of
ideology into two major forms: Nazism and Communism since only holistic ideologies are true
ideologies and these were the ones that believed in a single fundamental truth based on scientific
knowledge (race/ class) that determines past, present and future. The rests remain only sets of
ideas.

The end of ideology thesis - developed by Bell, an American sociologist in the ‘60s. According
to him the great social tensions, conflicts that produced two ideologies diminished in the face of
post ’45 economic development. The philosophical awareness of the two ideologies is so
obvious that western societies are faced with the triumph of liberal pragmatism (with some
certain issues) →”end-ism” had a revival after ’89 through Francis Fukuiama who said that the
collaps of communism means the end of history.
Huntington on the other hand argues that even if ideological conflicts are in decline, conflicts per
say are not eliminated as clashes of civilizations/ cultures still remain under the form of cultural
fundamentalism.

I. Propaganda
Is the deliberate attempt to convince in regards to political ideologies and gain political
influence by focusing on a relatively limited set of issues; almost synonymous with
manipulation.
What is the difference between political propaganda and advertisement?
– The target [consumers versus citizens]
– Propaganda is more developed in un-free regimes and in comparison with
advertising is much more intrusive and delivered non stop