Ideology
Updated 2026-09-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
The word ideology is used in such divergent ways that it is hard to claim conceptual unity for it: it can mean a total worldview, a legitimating discourse, a partisan political doctrine, a culture, false beliefs that sustain unjust power, beliefs that reinforce group identity, or mystification. The entry traces these uses and asks what, if anything, they share, and whether the concept retains critical force.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Reveal naturalization: ask which arrangements treated as common sense actually sustain a particular power relation. - Audit belief production: trace where ideas come from, how they spread, and who benefits, rather than only judging their truth. - Test the critique: ask whether the objection targets bias, dogma, or complicity with injustice.
Anchor fast decisions
Ideology resists unified definition because it serves both descriptive and critical functions at once: to show how some systems of belief make power relations appear natural, one must explain how those beliefs are produced, transmitted, and accepted by subjects, so the concept concerns both the content of ideas and the practices and psychological mechanisms around them.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- plato.stanford.eduhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ideology/verified
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