Political Ideologies: An Introduction

9781352011845

POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES SEVENTH EDITION AN INTRODUCTION

ANDREW HEYWOOD

‘Every summer I teach a course on politics and popular culture and assign Andrew Heywood’s Political Ideologies . The book provides a clear introduction to the “isms” that shape how most of us think about politics, including, in the new edition, populism. The book hits the sweet spot of being accessible to newcomers and illuminating for more advanced students.’ – Nicholas Tampio , Fordham University, USA ‘This brand new edition of Andrew Heywood’s Political Ideologies reflects the challenges and developments of our times: it includes a chapter on populism, a feminism chapter comprising intersectionality, trans theory and queer theory, an in-depth analysis of postcolonialism, case studies on contemporary issues and a discussion about the future prospects of each ideology. An indispensable tool for learning and teaching.’ – Andrea Schapper , University of Stirling, UK ‘A rare book which helps teachers not only inform but also inspire students to discover their place among competing ideologies. Heywood’s orderly presentation provides readers with excellent access to a wide range of ideological identities.’ – John Uhr , Australian National University, Australia ‘ Political Ideologies represents an excellent resource that continues to be of interest to both staff and students. Heywood sets out and develops a clear understanding of the ideologies that continue to shape contemporary politics and society.’ – Michael Kyriacou , University of East Anglia, UK ‘ Political Ideologies reflects considerable scholarship but communicates this in a clear and accessible way. The format, including tables and boxes that compare ideologies, is exceptionally reader-friendly. The tracking of the evolution of ideologies is particularly good, and helps students (and others!) make sense of the bewildering forest of labels that litter the political landscape today. This is a book that students will actually read!’ – Jennifer Leigh Bailey , Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway ‘Andrew Heywood’s book remains one of the best introductions to the study of political ideologies. Its main strength lies in the author’s ability to explain complex ideas in an engaging and accessible way, while the ‘Political Ideologies in Action’ features encourage the reader to reflect on the relationship between political ideas and contemporary issues.’ – Judi Atkins , Aston University, UK ‘This book is essential reading as a core text in political ideologies. It explores in detail the origins, key concepts, variants and tensions within ideologies, and this new edition provides even more extensive consideration of the most recent developments in ideology such as populism and trans and queer theory. A key attractive feature is the way the book relates ideology to current themes such as decolonising the curriculum, nationalism and the pandemic, anarchism and cyberspace. In short, this is a well-written, comprehensive, up-to-date and above all stimulating text.’ – Paul Flenley , University of Portsmouth, UK ‘I teach an introductory course with many general education students. Consequently, I was looking for a text that was above all highly accessible and engaging without sacrificing content. Political Ideologies meets both goals by succinctly outlining foundational material and building meaningful points of comparison across the traditions with ample opportunity to address finer nuances and draw connections to recent events.’ – Peter Doerschler , Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, USA

SEVENTH EDITION POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES AN INTRODUCTION

ANDREW HEYWOOD

© Andrew Heywood, under exclusive licence to Macmillan Education Limited 1992, 1998, 2003, 2007, 2012, 2017, 2021 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission.

No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted their right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This edition published 2021 by RED GLOBE PRESS Previous editions published under the imprint PALGRAVE Red Globe Press in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Education Limited, registered in England, company number 01755588, of 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW. Red Globe Press® is a registered trademark in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.

ISBN 978–1–352–01194–4 hardback ISBN 978–1–352–01183–8 paperback

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Commissioning Editor: Peter Atkinson Assistant Editor: Becky Mutton Cover Designer: Laura De Grasse Senior Production Editor: Amy Brownbridge Marketing Manager: Amy Suratia

BRIEF CONTENTS

1. UNDERSTANDING POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES

2. LIBERALISM

3. CONSERVATISM

4. SOCIALISM

ANARCHISM

103

6. NATIONALISM

124

148

7. FASCISM

8. POPULISM

169

9. FEMINISM

186

10. ECOLOGISM

206

11. MULTICULTURALISM

225

12. FUNDAMENTALISM

245

266

13. WHY POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES MATTER

272 283

Bibliography

Index

CONTENTS

List of illustrative material

ix xi

Tradition

52 54 55 58 60 61 61 65 69 73 74 74 71

Human imperfection

Figures

Organic society

Tour of the book

xii

Hierarchy and authority

Preface to the seventh edition

xiv

Property

Types of conservatism

Libertarian conservatism Authoritarian conservatism Paternalistic conservatism

1. UNDERSTANDING POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES 1 Preview 1 Views of political ideology 2 Marxist views 3 Non-Marxist views 5 Contours of ideology 7 From ‘classical’ to ‘new’ ideologies? 10 Left, right and beyond 13 The end of ideology? 16 Questions for discussion 18 Further reading 18

Christian democracy

The future of conservatism Questions for discussion

Further reading

4. SOCIALISM

75 75 76 78 79 80 83 85 87 87 81 100 101 102 94

Preview

Historical overview

Core themes

Community Cooperation

2. LIBERALISM

Equality

Class politics

Preview

Common ownership

Historical overview

20 22 23 24 26 27 29 31 31 36 41 46 47 48

Types of socialism

Core themes

Communism

Individualism

Social democracy

Freedom Reason

The future of socialism Questions for discussion

Justice

Further reading

Toleration

Types of liberalism

Classical liberalism Modern liberalism Liberal democracy

5. ANARCHISM

103

Preview

103 104 105 107 109

Historical overview

The future of liberalism Questions for discussion

Core themes

Anti-statism Natural order Anti-clericalism Economic freedom

Further reading

111 112 113 113 117

3. CONSERVATISM

Types of anarchism

Preview

49 50 52

Collectivist anarchism Individualist anarchism

Historical overview

Core themes

Contents

vii

The future of anarchism Questions for discussion

121 122 123

Right populism Left populism

178 182 184 185 185

The future of populism Questions for discussion

Further reading

6. NATIONALISM

124

Preview

124 125 128 129 132 133 134 137 137 140

9. FEMINISM

186

Historical overview

Preview

186 187 188 189 190 192 193 196

Core themes

Historical overview

The nation

Organic community Self-determination

Core themes

Redefining ‘the political’

Culturalism

Sex and gender

Types of nationalism Liberal nationalism

Patriarchy

Equality and difference

Conservative nationalism Expansionist nationalism

Types of feminism

141 Anti-colonial and postcolonial nationalism 143 The future of nationalism 146 Questions for discussion 147 Further reading 147

Traditional feminist theories 196 Modern approaches to gender and sexuality 200 The future of feminism 204 Questions for discussion 205 Further reading 205

7. FASCISM

148

10. ECOLOGISM

206

Preview

148 149 150 151 153 154 155 157 158 158 166 168 168 161

Preview

206 207 208 209 211 213 215 215 217 217 219 219 220 223 224 224 221

Historical overview

Core themes

Anti-rationalism

Ecology

Struggle

Systems thinking

Leadership and elitism

Sustainability

Socialism

Environmental ethics From having to being Reformist ecology Ecosocialism Eco-anarchism Ecofeminism Deep ecology

Ultranationalism

Types of fascism

Types of ecologism

Extreme statism Extreme racism

The future of fascism Questions for discussion

Further reading

The future of ecologism Questions for discussion

8. POPULISM

169

Further reading

Preview

169 170 172 172 174 175 177

Historical overview

11. MULTICULTURALISM

225

Core themes

Preview

225 226 227 227

The people

Historical overview

The elite

Populist democracy

Core themes

Types of populism

Postcolonialism

viii

Contents

Other fundamentalisms

261

Politics of recognition Culture and identity

229 231 233 236 237 238 239 241 243 244 244

264 265 265

The future of fundamentalism Questions for discussion

Minority rights

Togetherness in difference

Further reading

Types of multiculturalism Liberal multiculturalism

13. WHY POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES MATTER 266 Preview 266 Why we need political ideologies 267 Making sense of the world 267 Investing politics with moral purpose 268 Forging the collective 268 Do ideologies matter too much? 269 Imprisoning the mind 269 Distorting ‘truth’ 270 Pitting ‘us’ against ‘them’ 270 Choosing between ideologies 271 Questions for discussion 271 Bibliography 272 Index 283

Pluralist multiculturalism Cosmopolitan multiculturalism The future of multiculturalism

Questions for discussion

Further reading

12. FUNDAMENTALISM

245

Preview

245 246 247 248 251 252 254 255 255 258

Historical overview

Core themes

Religion as politics Essential truths Anti-modernism

Militancy

Types of fundamentalism

Islamism

Christian fundamentalism

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL

KEY FIGURES Mikhail Bakunin

111 16 33

Vladimir Ilich Lenin

Daniel Bell

John Locke

Jeremy Bentham

James Lovelock Rosa Luxemburg James Madison Herbert Marcuse

212 92 44

Isaiah Berlin

240

Eduard Bernstein

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale

262 220

94 76

Murray Bookchin Edmund Burke Judith Butler Rachel Carson

Karl Marx

Charles Maurras Guiseppe Mazzini Carolyn Merchant John Stuart Mill

143 137 221

202 207 164 183

Houston Stewart Chamberlain

Hugo Chavez

189 262 156 222 154 65 55 181 80 241

Kate Millett

Simone de Beauvoir

191

Narendra Modi Benito Mussolini

Jerry Falwell Frantz Fanon Betty Friedan

260 145

Arne Naess

Friedrich Nietzsche

Francis Fukuyama

Robert Nozick

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

144 136 159

Michael Oakeshott

Marcus Garvey Giovanni Gentile Anthony Giddens

Viktor Orban Robert Owen Bhikhu Parekh

Joseph Arthur Gobineau

163

Juan Domingo Perón

171 86 115

117

William Godwin Emma Goldman Antonio Gramsci Germaine Greer

Thomas Piketty

109

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Sayyid Qutb Ayn Rand John Rawls

256

199 135 149

63 39

Johann Gottfried Herder

Adolf Hitler

Alfred Rosenberg Murray Rothbard

160 120 133 228 214 34 118 234

Thomas Hobbes

bell hooks

201

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Immanuel Kant

Edward Said

Ayatollah Khomeini

248

Ernst Friedrich (‘Fritz’) Schumacher

Peter Kropotkin Will Kymlicka Marine Le Pen

113

Adam Smith Max Stirner Charles Taylor

234 182

list of illustrative material

Henry David Thoreau

119

Woodrow Wilson

138

James Tully

236

28 77

Mary Wollstonecraft

Friedrich von Hayek

Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung)

242

Jeremy Waldron

KEY CONCEPTS Anti-globalization

105

Libertarianism Majoritarianism Neoconservatism

Anti-politics Anti-Semitism Authoritarianism

171

177 67 63 94 62

164

66 77

Neoliberalism New Left New Right Paradigm Paternalism Patriotism

Capitalism

Clash of civilizations

247

Collectivism Colonialism Communism

268

228

87 42

125 176

Constitutionalism

Plebiscitary democracy

Corporatism Culture war

160 179

Pluralism

240

Postmaterialism

217

Democratization

Pragmatism

174

Elitism

Racism

162

Federalism Globalization Identity politics

Rationalism

Religious fundamentalism

246 230

232 126

Republicanism

Imperialism Individualism Industrialism

Social democracy

218 247

Sustainable development

213 139 201 255

Theocracy

Internationalism Intersectionality

Toryism

Totalitarianism Utilitarianism

159

Islamism

Keynesianism

40 44

110

Utopianism

Liberal democracy

Zionism

263

PERSPECTIVES ON . . . Authority

155 232

Human nature

Culture

Ideology Nation Nature

Democracy The economy

45 85 82 25 191

131

210 173 250

Equality Freedom Gender History

The people

Religion Society

State

107

list of illustrative material

TENSIONS WITHIN . . . Classical liberalism v. Modern liberalism Neoliberalism v. Neoconservatism Paternalistic conservatism v. Libertarian conservatism Communism v. Social democracy

Liberal nationalism v. Expansionist nationalism 142 Fascism v. Nazism 166 Right populism v. Left populism 182 Equality feminism v. Difference feminism 195 Liberal feminism v. Radical feminism 200 ‘Shallow’ ecology v. ‘Deep’ ecology 211 Liberal multiculturalism v. Pluralist multiculturalism 241

70 97

Social democracy v. Third way

100

Individualist anarchism v. Collectivist anarchism 120 Civic nationalism v. Ethnocultural nationalism 136 POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES IN ACTION Decolonizing the curriculum 12 Free speech in a plural society 30 Same-sex marriage 57 Universal basic income 84 Anarchism and cyberspace 106 Nationalism and the pandemic 128

Greece’s Golden Dawn The refugee crisis in Europe The Me Too movement School climate strikes

151 179 194 216 235 249 158 162 190 193 229 239 242

Cultural appropriation

Donald Trump and the Christian right

FIGURES 1.1 Features of ideology

7.1 Types of fascism

7.2 The nature of racism

1.2 Contrasting ideological structures 1.3 ‘Classical’ and ‘new’ ideologies

9.1 The sexual division of labour 9.2 Radical feminist view of patriarchy 11.1 C ontrasting approaches to social advancement 11.2 Liberalism and cultural diversity 11.3 Types of multiculturalism 12.1 R elativism–fundamentalism spectrum

1.4 Linear spectrum

13 14 14 15

1.5 Horseshoe spectrum

1.6 Two-dimensional spectrum 1.7 The open/closed divide 4.1 Historical materialism 5.1 The nature of anarchism

105 132

251

6.1 Views of the nation

TOUR OF THE BOOK

This book contains a number of pedagogical features to help you understand each ideology discussed, the key thinkers and concepts associated with them, the differences between them and the tensions within them.

At the start of each chapter...

CHAPTER 8 POPULISM

Chapter previews highlight the broad nature of the ideology and give a taste of the discussion to follow in the chapter.

PREVIEW Derived from the Latin populus, meaning people, the term ‘populism’ was originally used to refer to the ideas and beliefs of the US People’s Party (also known as the Populist Party), which was founded in 1892. The term later acquired a range of pejorative associations, being used to imply, for example, mass manipulation or political irresponsibility. Few politicians therefore identify themselves as

Preview

00 00 00

Historical overview

Core themes

Types of populism 00 The future of populism 00 Questions for discussion 00 Further reading 00

lack of scholarly agreement about both the nature of populism as a political phenomenon – is it an ideology, a movement, a political style or whatever? – and its defining features. It is nevertheless widely accepted that, as an ideology, populism is shaped by two key stances: adulation of ‘the people’ and outright condemnation of the elite or establishment. The central image of populism is therefore of a society divided into two homogeneous and antagonistic groups: the ‘pure’ people and the ‘corrupt’ elite. From the populist perspective, the people – typically conceived selectively as the ‘real people’ or the ‘true people’ – constitute the only source of moral worth in politics, their wishes and instincts providing the sole legitimate guide to political action. Populists thus embrace a monist stance that is firmly opposed to pluralism, and puts it at odds with liberalism in general and liberal democracy in particular. However, in contrast to other forms of pro-people illiberalism (notably fascism and communism), populism is essentially reformist rather than revolutionary. It is nevertheless important to note that there are ideological tensions within populism, in particular between left-wing and right-wing populism. Left-wing populists typically define

Within each chapter…

Definitions of key terms, highlighted in the text, appear on the page where they are used, instead of in a separate glossary.

Environmentalism: A concern about the natural environment and particularly about reducing environmental degradation: a policy orientation rather than an ideological stance. Humanism: A philosophy that gives moral priority to the achievement of human needs and ends.

Key figure boxes offer biographical details about the major thinkers and their influence on each ideological tradition, as well as highlighting their key writings.

KEY FIGURE

A UK atmospheric chemist, inventor and environmental thinker, Lovelock is best known as the inventor of the ‘Gaia hypothesis’. This proposes that the Earth is best understood as a complex, self-regulating, living ‘being’, implying that the prospects for humankind are closely linked to whether the species helps to sustain, or threaten, the planetary ecosystem. Lovelock was also the first person to alert the world to the global presence of CFCs in the atmosphere, and he is, controversially, a supporter of nuclear power.

Colin McPherson/Corbis Entertainment/Getty Images

KEY CONCEPT PRAGMATISM

disputes that seeks to clarify themean and hypotheses by identifying consequences. The benefits of pragm are that it allows policies and politic be judged ‘on their merits’ (on the works’), and that it prevents ideology divorced from reality and turning in thinking. Critics, however, equate p

Key concept boxes provide extended explanations of important ideas that underpin the ideologies under discussion.

Pragmatism, broadly defined, refers to behaviour that is shaped in accordance with practical circumstances and goals, rather than principles or ideological objectives. As a philosophical tradition, associated with ‘classical pragmatists’ such as William

xii

tour of the book

xiii

Political ideologies in action features draw on important and contemporary case studies to illustrate how each ideology plays out in the real world

Perspectives on . . . features consider rival perspectives on important political themes.

POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES IN ACTION . . . DECOLONIZING THE CURRICULUM EVENTS: In March 2015, the first protests took place in the student-led Rhodes Must Fall campaign. The campaign was initially directed against a statue at the University of Cape Town that commemorated Cecil Rhodes, the British mining magnate and prime minister of Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. Although the statue was removed in April 2015, the protest movement spread to other universities, both within South Africa and elsewhere in the world. The Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford campaign called on Oriel College, Oxford University, to take down the statue of Rhodes that sits overlooking the High Street, but this demand was rejected in January 2016. The protesters objected to the statues on the grounds that they glorified a man who was an architect of apartheid and had been deeply implicated in the racist and bloody history of British colonialism. SIGNIFICANCE: The Rhodes Must Fall protests were linked to the wider goal of ‘decolonizing the

PERSPECTIVES ON . . . IDEOLOGY LIBERALS,

sanctioned belief system that claims a monopoly of truth, often through a spurious claim to be scientific. Ideology is therefore inherently repressive, even totalitarian; its prime examples are communism and fascism. CONSERVATIVES have traditionally regarded ideology as a manifestation of the arrogance of rationalism. Ideologies are elaborate systems of thought that are dangerous or unreliable because, being abstracted from reality, they establish principles and goals that lead to repression, or are simply unachievable. In this light, socialism and liberalism are clearly ideological. SOCIALISTS, following Marx, have seen ideology as a body of ideas that conceal the contradictions of class society, thereby promoting false consciousness and political passivity among subordinate classes. Liberalism is the classic ruling-class ideology. Later Marxists adopted

Those who argue that the decolonization agenda urgently needs to be applied to political ideologies claim that, as a product of the Enlightenment, ideology is intrinsically a part of the Western intellectual tradition, so separating it from non- Western cultures (Chinese, Indian, African, Islamic and so on). Such thinking is consolidated by the tendency of liberalism to operate as an ideology of Western domination. Not only do liberals insist that their values and institutions are universally

Neoliberalism VS

Neoconservatism

Tensions within . . . features highlight key points of tension within each ideology.

classical liberalism

traditional conservatism

organicism

atomism

traditionalism

radicalism

authoritarianism

libertarianism

social order

economic dynamism

At the end of each chapter…

Questions for discussion encourage you to reflect on some of the key issues and debates relating to each ideology, either on your own or within a group setting.

Further resources provide a list of useful texts and online resources to extend your study of ideologies beyond the book.

At the end of the book…

INDEX

BIBLIOGRAPHY

There is a full bibliography, and in the index entries material in boxes are in bold, and the on-page definitions are in italics.

Acton, Lord (1956) Essays on Freedom and Power . London: Meridian. Adams, I. (1989) Philosophical Analysis . London and New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf. Adib-Moghaddam, A. (ed.) (2014) Introduction to Khomeini. New York: Cambridge University Press. Adonis, A. and Hames, T. (1994) A Conservative Perspective . Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Ball, T., Dagger, R. Ideologies and and New York Ball, T., Dagger, R and Ideologies: Routledge. Baradat, L. P. (2 Origins and I River, NJ: Pren Barber, B. (2003) Jih

Note: page numbers that are in bold italics

A abortion

religion, anarchists’ perspective on 250 society, anarchists’ perspective on 59 Spanish Civil War and 115

legalization of 193

and Tribalism London: Corg

234

PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION

The world of political ideologies never ceases to surprise. The election of Donald Trump as US president in November 2016, and the referendum vote in the UK in favour of Brexit earlier in the year, thus appeared to come out of the blue. In both cases, the forces of mainstream conservatism were supplemented by an upsurge in populist nationalism that far exceeded the predictions of most pundits. In part, this was because the rise of populism – which, albeit to different degrees, affected most developed states as well as some developing states – threatened to reverse the dominant ideological trend of the post-1945 period: the onwardmarch of liberalism. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether resurgent populism is destined to be an ongoing trend, or merely a temporary one. This uncertainty occurs not least because other ideological developments have also recently come to the fore, such as the campaign for racial justice, associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, to say nothing about the myriad (and often contradictory) ideological ramifications of the Covid-19 pandemic since 2020. The seventh edition of Political Ideologies has been systematically revised and updated throughout. It differs from the previous edition in a number of significant ways. The coverage of populism has been expanded by the inclusion of a separate chapter on the subject (Chapter 8). The chapter on Islamism has been replaced by one on the broader topic of fundamentalism (Chapter 12). The focus of the concluding chapter has shifted from the end-of-ideology debate (now incorporated into Chapter 1) to the topic of why ideologies matter, and to what extent (Chapter 12). The feminism chapter has been revised to include a consideration of modern approaches to gender and sexuality, including intersectionality, trans theory and queer theory (Chapter 9). The multiculturalism chapter has been restructured to analyse postcolonialism in greater depth (Chapter 11). All the ‘Political Ideologies in Action’ features have been updated to focus on contemporary, rather than historical, issues. Each of the substantive chapters now includes a concluding section reflecting on the future prospects of the ideology in question. I would like to thank all those at Red Globe Press who have contributed to the production of the book, particularly Lloyd Langman and Peter Atkinson, whose suggestions and feedback throughout the process were unfailingly encouraging, constructive and insightful. I would also like to thank Matt Laing for his contribution to the Further Reading sections, as well as the anonymous reviewers who commented on the book at various points in its development. Discussions with friends and colleagues, notably Karen and Doug Woodward, Angela and David Maddison, Barbara and Chris Clarkson, Kate and Barry Taylor, Gill and Collin Spraggs, and Gill Walton, also helped to sharpen the ideas and arguments advanced here. The book is dedicated to my wife, Jean, without whose advice, encouragement and support none of the editions of this book would have seen the light of day.

xiv

CHAPTER 1 UNDERSTANDING POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES

PREVIEW All people are political thinkers. Whether they know it or not, people use political ideas and concepts whenever they express their opinion or speak their mind. Everyday language is littered with terms such as ‘freedom’, ‘fairness’, ‘equality’, ‘justice’ and ‘rights’. In the same way, words such as ‘conservative’, ‘liberal’, ‘socialist’, ‘communist’ and ‘fascist’ are regularly employed by people either to describe their own views, or those of others. However, even though such

Views of political ideology 2 Contours of ideology 7 From ‘classical’ to ‘new’ ideologies? 10 Left, right and beyond 13 The end of ideology? 16 Questions for discussion 18 Further reading 18

terms are familiar, even commonplace, they are seldom used with any precision or a clear grasp of their meaning. What, for instance, is ‘equality’? What does it mean to say that all people are equal? Are people born equal; should they be treated by society as if they are equal? Should people have equal rights, equal opportunities, equal political influence, equal wages? Similarly, words such as ‘socialist’ or ‘fascist’ are commonly misused. What does it mean to call someone a ‘fascist’? What values or beliefs do fascists hold, and why do they hold them? How do socialist views differ from those of, say, liberals, conservatives or anarchists? This book examines the substantive ideas and beliefs of the major political ideologies. This introductory chapter reflects on the nature of political ideology. It does so by examining the life and (sometimes convoluted) times of the concept of ideology, the structure of ideological thought, the differences between so-called ‘classical’ ideologies and ‘new’ ideologies, the extent to which ideologies conform to a left/ right divide, and the question of whether ideology has or could come to an end. (Chapter 13 discusses how and why political ideologies matter.)

CHAPTER 1

VIEWS OF POLITICAL IDEOLOGY This book is primarily a study of political ideologies, rather than an analysis of the nature of ideology. Much confusion stems from the fact that, though obviously related, ‘ideology’ and ‘ideologies’ are quite different things to study. To examine ‘ideology’ is to consider a particular type of political thought, distinct from, say, political science or political philosophy. The study of political ideology thus involves reflection on questions about the nature, role and significance of this category of thought, and about which sets of political ideas and arguments should be classified as ideologies. For instance, is ideology true or false, liberating or oppressive, or inevitable or merely transitory? Similarly, are green ideology and multiculturalism, by virtue of their relatively narrow focus, ideologies in the same sense as liberalism and socialism, both of which offer a comprehensive vision of the desired future? On the other hand, to study ‘ideologies’ is to be concerned with analysing the content of political thought, to be interested in the ideas, doctrines and theories that have been advancedby andwithin the various ideological traditions. For example, what can liberalism tell us about freedom? Why have socialists traditionally supported equality? How do anarchists defend the idea of a stateless society? Why have fascists regarded struggle and war as healthy? In order to examine such ‘content’ issues, however, it is necessary to consider the overarching ‘type’ of political thought we are dealing with. Before discussing the characteristic ideas and doctrines of the so-called ideologies, we need to reflect on why these sets of ideas have been categorized as ideologies. More importantly, what does the categorization tell us? What can we learn about, for instance, liberalism, socialism, feminism and fascism from the fact that they are classified as ideologies? The first problemconfronting any discussion of the nature of ideology is that there is no settled or agreed definition of the term, only a collection of rival definitions. As David McLellan (1995) commented, ‘Ideology is the most elusive concept in the whole of the social sciences.’ Few political terms have been the subject of such deep and impassioned controversy. This has occurred for two reasons. In the first place, as all concepts of ideology acknowledge a link between theory and practice, the term uncovers highly contentious debates about the role of ideas in politics and the relationship between beliefs and theories on the one hand, and material life or political conduct on the other. Second, the concept of ideology has not been able to stand apart from the ongoing struggle between and among political ideologies. For much of its history, the term ‘ideology’ has been used as a political weapon, a device with which to condemn or criticize rival sets of ideas or belief systems. Not until the second half of the twentieth century was a neutral and apparently objective concept of ideology widely employed, and even then disagreements persisted over the social role and political significance of ideology. Among the meanings that have been attached to ideology are the following: z z a political belief system z z an action-orientated set of political ideas z z the ideas of the ruling class z z the world-view of a particular social class or social group z z political ideas that embody or articulate class or social interests z z ideas that propagate false consciousness among the exploited or oppressed z z ideas that situate the individual within a social context and generate a sense of collective belonging

Understanding Political Ideologies

z z an officially sanctioned set of ideas used to legitimize a political system or regime z z an all-embracing political doctrine that claims a monopoly of truth z z an abstract and highly systematic set of political ideas. The origins of the term are nevertheless clear. The word ‘ideology’ was coined during the French Revolution by Antoine Destutt de Tracy (1754–1836), and was first used in public in 1796. For de Tracy, idéologie referred to a new ‘science of ideas’, literally an idea -ology. With a rationalist zeal typical of the Enlightenment , he believed that it was possible to uncover the origins of ideas objectively, and proclaimed that this new science would come to enjoy the same status as established sciences such as biology and zoology. More boldly, since all forms of enquiry are based on ideas, de Tracy suggested that ideology would eventually come to be recognized as the queen of the sciences. However, despite these high expectations, this original meaning of the term has had little impact on later usage, which has been influenced by both Marxist and non-Marxist thinking. Marxist views The career of ideology as a key political term stems from the use made of it in the writings of Karl Marx (see p. 76). Marx’s use of the term, and the interest shown in it by later generations of Marxist thinkers, largely explains the prominence ideology enjoys in modern social and political thought. Yet the meaning Marx ascribed to the concept is very different from the one usually accorded it in mainstream political analysis. Marx used the term in the title of his early work The German Ideology ([1846]1970), written with his lifelong collaborator Friedrich Engels (1820–95). This also contains Marx’s clearest description of his view of ideology: The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time the ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it. (Marx and Engels, [1846]1970)

Enlightenment: An intellectual movement that reached its height in the eighteenth century and challenged traditional beliefs in religion, politics and learning in general in the name of reason and progress. False consciousness: A Marxist term denoting the delusion and mystification that prevents subordinate classes from recognizing the fact of their own exploitation. Bourgeois ideology: A Marxist term denoting ideas and theories that serve the interests of the bourgeoisie by disguising the contradictions of capitalist society.

Marx’s concept of ideology has a number of crucial features. First, ideology is about delusion and mystification: it perpetrates a false or mistaken view of the world, what Engels later referred to as ‘ false consciousness ’. Marx used ideology as a critical concept, the purpose of which is to unmask a process of systematic mystification. His own ideas he classified as scientific, because they were designed to accurately uncover the workings of history and society. The contrast between ideology and science, between falsehood and truth, was thus vital to Marx’s use of the term. Second, ideology is linked to the class system . Marx believed that the distortion implicit in ideology stems from the fact that it reflects the interests and perspective on society of the ruling class. The ideology of a capitalist society is therefore bourgeois ideology . The ruling class is unwilling to recognize itself as an oppressor and, equally, is anxious to reconcile the oppressed to their oppression. The class system is thus presented upside down, a notion Marx conveyed through the image of the camera obscura, the inverted picture

CHAPTER 1 that is produced by a camera lens or the human eye. Liberalism, which portrays rights that can only be exercised by the propertied and privileged as universal entitlements, is therefore the classic example of ideology. Third, ideology is a manifestation of power . In concealing the contradictions on which capitalism, in common with all class societies, is based, ideology serves to hide from the exploited proletariat the fact of its own exploitation, and thereby upholds a system of unequal class power. Ideology literally constitutes the ‘ruling’ ideas of the age. Finally, Marx treated ideology as a temporary phenomenon. Ideology will only continue so long as the class system that generates it survives. The proletariat – in Marx’s view, the ‘grave digger’ of capitalism – is destined not to establish another form of class society, but rather to abolish class inequality altogether by bringing about the collective ownership of wealth. The interests of the proletariat thus coincide with those of society as a whole. The proletariat, in short, does not need ideology because it is the only class that needs no illusions. Later generations of Marxists showed, if anything, a greater interest in ideology than did Marx himself. This largely stems from the fact that Marx’s confident prediction of capitalism’s doom proved to be highly optimistic, encouraging later Marxists to focus on ideology as one of the factors explaining the unexpected resilience of the capitalist mode of production. However, important shifts in the meaning of the term also took place. In particular, all classes came to be seen to possess ideologies. For Lenin and most later Marxists, ideology therefore came to refer to the distinctive ideas of a particular social class, ideas that advance its interests regardless of its class position. However, as all classes – the proletariat as well as the bourgeoisie – have an ideology, the term was robbed of its negative or pejorative connotations. The Marxist theory of ideology was perhaps developed furthest by Antonio Gramsci (see p. 5). Gramsci ([1935]1971) argued that the capitalist class system is upheld not simply by unequal economic and political power, but by what he termed the ‘ hegemony ’ of bourgeois ideas and theories. Hegemony means leadership or domination and, in the sense of ideological hegemony, it refers to the capacity of bourgeois ideas to displace rival views and become, in effect, the common sense of the age. Gramsci highlighted the degree to which ideology is embedded at every level in society: in its art and literature; in its education system and mass media; in everyday language; and in popular culture. This bourgeois hegemony, Gramsci insisted, could only be challenged at the political and intellectual level, which means through the establishment of a rival ‘proletarian hegemony’, based on socialist principles, values and theories. The capacity of capitalism to achieve stability by manufacturing legitimacy was also a particular concern of the Frankfurt School, a group of mainly German neo-Marxists who fled the Nazis and later settled in the USA. Its most widely known member, Herbert Marcuse (see p. 94), argued in One-Dimensional Man (1964) that advanced industrial society has developed a ‘totalitarian’ character through the capacity of its ideology to

manipulate thought and deny expression to oppositional views. According toMarcuse, even the tolerance that appears to characterize liberal capitalism serves a repressive purpose, in that it creates the impression of free debate and argument, thereby concealing the extent to which indoctrination and ideological control take place.

Hegemony: The ascendency or domination of one element of a system over others; for Marxists, hegemony implies ideological domination.

Understanding Political Ideologies

KEY FIGURE

ANTONIO GRAMSCI (1891–1937) An ItalianMarxist and revolutionary, Gramsci tried to redress the emphasis within orthodox Marxism on economic and material factors. In his major work, Prison Notebooks (1929–35), Gramsci rejected any form of ‘scientific’ determinism by stressing, through the theory of ‘hegemony’ (the dominance of bourgeois ideas and beliefs), the importance of political and intellectual struggle. While he did not ignore the ‘economic nucleus’, he argued that bourgeois assumptions and values needed to be overthrown by the establishment of a rival ‘proletarian hegemony’.

Dea Picture Library/De Agostini/Getty Images

Non-Marxist views One of the earliest attempts to construct anon-Marxist concept of ideologywas undertaken by the German sociologist Karl Mannheim (1893–1947). Like Marx, he acknowledged that people’s ideas are shaped by their social circumstances, but, in contrast to Marx, he strove to rid ideology of its negative implications. In Ideology and Utopia ([1929]1960), Mannheimportrayed ideologies as thought systems that serve to defend a particular social order, and that broadly express the interests of its dominant or ruling group. Utopias, on the other hand, are idealized representations of the future that imply the need for radical social change, invariably serving the interests of oppressed or subordinate groups. He further distinguished between ‘particular’ and ‘total’ conceptions of ideology. ‘Particular’ ideologies are the ideas and beliefs of specific individuals, groups or parties, while ‘total’ ideologies encompass the entire Weltanschauung , or ‘world-view’, of a social class, society or even historical period. In this sense, Marxism, liberal capitalism and Islamism can each be regarded as ‘total’ ideologies. Mannheim nevertheless held that all ideological systems, including utopias, are distorted, because each offers a partial, and necessarily self-interested, view of social reality. However, he argued that the attempt to uncover objective truth need not be abandoned altogether. According to Mannheim, objectivity is strictly the preserve of the ‘socially unattached intelligentsia’, a class of intellectuals who alone can engage in disciplined and dispassionate enquiry because they have no economic interests of their own. The subsequent career of the concept was marked deeply by the emergence of totalitarian dictatorships in the interwar period, and by the heightened ideological tensions of the Cold War of the 1950s and 1960s. Liberal theorists in particular portrayed the regimes that developed in Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia as historically new and uniquely oppressive systems of rule, and highlighted the role played by ‘official’ ideologies in suppressing debate and criticism, and promoting regimented obedience. Writers as different as Karl Popper (1945), Hannah Arendt (1951), J. L. Talmon (1952), Bernard Crick (1962) and the ‘end of ideology’ theorists examined in the final section of this chapter, came to use the term ‘ideology’ in a highly restrictive manner, seeing fascism and communism as its prime examples. According to this usage, ideologies are ‘closed’ systems of thought, which, by claiming a monopoly of truth, refuse to tolerate opposing ideas and rival beliefs. Ideologies are thus ‘secular religions’; they possess a

CHAPTER 1 ‘totalizing’ character and serve as instruments of social control, ensuring compliance and subordination. However, not all political creeds are ideologies by this standard. For instance, liberalism, based as it is on a fundamental commitment to freedom, tolerance and diversity, is the clearest example of an ‘open’ system of thought (Popper, 1945). A distinctively conservative concept of ideology can also be identified.This is based on a long- standing conservative distrust of abstract principles and philosophies, born out of a sceptical attitude towards rationalism (see p. 26) and progress. The world is viewed as infinitely complex and largely beyond the capacity of the human mind to fathom. The foremost modern exponent of this view was Michael Oakeshott (see p. 55). ‘In political activity’, Oakeshott argued in Rationalism in Politics (1962), ‘men sail a boundless and bottomless sea’. From this perspective, ideologies are seen as abstract systems of thought, sets of ideas that are destined to simplify and distort social reality because they claim to explain what is, frankly, incomprehensible. Ideology is thus equated with dogmatism: fixed or doctrinaire beliefs that are divorced from the complexities of the real world. Conservatives have therefore rejected the ‘ideological’ style of politics, based on attempts to reshape the world in accordance with a set of abstract principles or pre-established theories. Until infected by the highly ideological politics of the New Right (see p. 62), conservatives had preferred to adopt what Oakeshott called a ‘traditionalist stance’, which spurns ideology in favour of pragmatism, and looks to experience and history as the surest guides to human conduct.

KEY CONCEPT PRAGMATISM

disputes that seeks to clarify themeaning of concepts and hypotheses by identifying their practical consequences. The benefits of pragmatism in politics are that it allows policies and political assertions to be judged ‘on their merits’ (on the basis of ‘what works’), and that it prevents ideology from becoming divorced from reality and turning into mere wishful thinking. Critics, however, equate pragmatism with a lack of principle or a tendency to follow public opinion rather than lead it.

Since the 1960s, however, the term ‘ideology’ has gained a wider currency through being refashioned according to the needs of conventional social and political analysis. This has established ideology as a neutral and objective concept, the political baggage once attached to it having been removed. Martin Seliger (1976), for example, defined an ideology as ‘a set of ideas by which men posit, explain and justify the ends and means of organized social action, irrespective of whether such action aims to preserve, amend, uproot or rebuild a given social order’. An ideology is therefore an action-orientated system of thought. So defined, ideologies are neither good nor bad, true nor false, open nor closed, liberating nor oppressive – they can be all these things. The clear merit of this social-scientific concept is that it is inclusive, in the sense that it can be applied to all ‘isms’, to liberalism as well as Marxism, to conservatism as well as fascism, and so on. The drawback of any negative concept of ideology is that it is highly restrictive. Marx saw liberal and conservative ideas as ideological but regarded his own as scientific; liberals classify communism and fascism as ideologies but refuse to accept that liberalism is also one; traditional conservatives condemn liberalism, Marxism and fascism as ideological but portray conservatism as merely a ‘disposition’. However, any neutral concept of ideology also has its dangers. In particular, in offloading its political

Understanding Political Ideologies

baggage the term may be rendered so bland and generalized that it loses its critical edge completely. If ideology is interchangeable with terms such as ‘belief system’, ‘world-view’, ‘doctrine’ or ‘political philosophy’, what is the point of continuing to pretend that it has a separate and distinctive meaning? CONTOURS OF IDEOLOGY Any short or single-sentence definition of ideology is likely to provoke more questions than it answers. Nevertheless, it provides a useful and necessary starting point. In this book, ideology is understood as the following: An ideology is a more or less coherent set of ideas that provides the basis for organized political action, whether this is intended to preserve, modify or overthrow the existing system of power. All ideologies therefore have the following features. FEMINISTS, particularly from the Marxist feminist tradition, have seen ideology as a means of legitimizing the subordination of women in a patriarchal society. Ideology therefore has an intrinsically sexist character, apparent in the tendency to view supposedly male qualities and attributes as the human norm. ECOLOGISTS have tended to regard all conventional political doctrines as part of a super- ideology of industrialism. Ideology is thus tainted by its association with arrogant humanism and growth-orientated economics – liberalism and socialism being its most obvious examples. FUNDAMENTALISTS have treated key religious texts as ideology, on the grounds that, by expressing the revealed word of God, they provide a programme for comprehensive social reconstruction. Secular ideologies, by contrast, are rejected because they are not founded on religious principles and so lack moral substance. PERSPECTIVES ON . . . IDEOLOGY LIBERALS, particularly during the Cold War period, have viewed ideology as an officially sanctioned belief system that claims a monopoly of truth, often through a spurious claim to be scientific. Ideology is therefore inherently repressive, even totalitarian; its prime examples are communism and fascism. CONSERVATIVES have traditionally regarded ideology as a manifestation of the arrogance of rationalism. Ideologies are elaborate systems of thought that are dangerous or unreliable because, being abstracted from reality, they establish principles and goals that lead to repression, or are simply unachievable. In this light, socialism and liberalism are clearly ideological. SOCIALISTS, following Marx, have seen ideology as a body of ideas that conceal the contradictions of class society, thereby promoting false consciousness and political passivity among subordinate classes. Liberalism is the classic ruling-class ideology. Later Marxists adopted a neutral concept of ideology, regarding it as the distinctive ideas of any social class, including the working class. FASCISTS are often dismissive of ideology as an over-systematic, dry and intellectualized form of political understanding based on mere reason rather than passion and the will. The Nazis preferred to portray their own ideas as a Weltanschauung or ‘world-view’, and not as a systematic philosophy.

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