Why Political Ideologies Matter
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and so on. These ideological traditions are capable of reflecting the life experiences, interests and aspirations of a social class, and thereby help to forge a sense of belonging and solidarity. However, political ideologies can also bind together divergent groups and interests within the same society. For instance, liberalism fosters a collection of bedrock values, including individual rights, democracy and constitutionalism (see p. 42), while nationalism inculcates a common set of political allegiances and cultural affiliations (see Chapter 6). In providing society with a unifying political culture, ideologies deliver order and social stability. Nevertheless, a unifying set of political ideas and values can develop naturally within a society, or it can be imposed on it in an attempt to manufacture obedience and exercise control. The clearest example of this latter tendency is the ‘official’ ideologies that have emerged in communist and fascist regimes (see Chapters 4 and 7, respectively). DO IDEOLOGIES MATTER TOO MUCH? Throughout its history, stretching back at least to the 1789 French Revolution, political ideology has been subject to criticism and attack. This has often been expressed through predictions of its imminent (and usually welcome) demise. However, rather than countenancing the eradication of ideology as something that is possible or desirable, most commentators see ideology as a mixed blessing. In short, political ideologies can be used but they can also be abused. Their dangers associated with political ideology include the following: z z imprisoning the mind z z distorting ‘truth’ z z pitting ‘us’ against ‘them’. Imprisoning the mind The notion that ideologies, as paradigms, serve the interests of political understanding fails to acknowledge that they may also promote tunnel vision, or even act as intellectual prisons. Instead of widening and deepening our perceptual field, paradigms may allow us to ‘see’ only what their account of political reality allows us to see. By generating conformity among those who subscribe to them, ideologies come to resemble political religions, sets of values, theories and doctrines that demand faith and commitment
from ‘believers’, who are unable to think ‘outside’ or ‘beyond’ their chosen world-view. Such a tendency can be further explained by a range of cognitive dispositions. Sunk cost fallacy , for instance, stops us giving up on a cause because we do not want to admit that we were wrong to invest in it in the first place. We fall foul of this mental habit not just when we invest financially but when we invest ourselves in an idea, strategy or ethical position. Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out, interpret, judge and remember information so that it reinforces one’s pre-existing beliefs and values. It also explains why people rarely access websites, blogs, journals, books and newspapers that contain material that challenges their established views. Cognitive entrenchment theory
Sunk cost fallacy: The disposition to continue a behaviour or endeavour as a result of costs that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered. Confirmation bias: The disposition to give more weight to information that confirms people’s beliefs and to undervalue information that could disprove them.
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