/98-31_files/98-3100001im.jpg" width="696"
height="1066" useMap="#Map">
Introduction
to Cultural Anthropology
SOC401
VU
Lesson
31
IDEOLOGY
AND CULTURE (Continued)
Political
ideologies
In
social
studies,
a political ideology is a set of
ideas and principles that explain
how the society should
work,
and offer the blueprint for
a certain social order. A
political ideology largely
concerns itself with
how
to
allocate power
and
to what ends it should be used.
For
example, one of the most
influential and well-defined
political ideologies of the 20th
century was
communism,
based on the original formulations of
Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels. Communism is a term
that
can refer to one of several
things: a certain social
system, an ideology which
supports that system, or
a
political
movement that wishes to implement that
system.
As
a social system, communism is a type of
egalitarian society with no
state, no private property
and no
social
classes. In communism, all
property is owned by the community as a whole, and
all people enjoy
equal
social and economic status.
Perhaps the best known
principle of a communist society is
"From each
according
to his ability, to each
according to his need".
As
an ideology, communism is synonymous for
Marxism and
its various derivatives (most
notably
Marxism-Leninism). Among other things,
Marxism claims that human
society has gone
through
various
stages of development throughout its
history, and that capitalism is
the current stage we
are
going
through. The next stage
will be socialism, and the one after
that will be
communism.
Therefore,
it should be noted that
communists do not seek to
establish communism right
away;
they
seek to establish socialism
first,
which is to be followed by communism at
some point in the
future.
Other
examples of ideologies include: anarchism,
capitalism,
corporate
liberalism,
fascism,
monarchism,
nationalism,
fascism,
conservativism
and
social-democracy.
Economic
Ideology
Karl
Marx proposed
a base/superstructure
model of
society. The base
refers
to the means
of production of
society.
The superstructure
is
formed on top of the base,
and comprises that society's
ideology, as well as
its
legal
system, political system,
and religions.
Marx
proposed that the base determines the
superstructure. It is the ruling class
that controls the society's
means
of production - and thus the
superstructure of society, including
its ideology, will be
determined
according
to what is in the ruling class' best
interests. On the other hand,
critics of the Marxist
approach
feel
that it attributes too much importance to
economic factors in influencing
society.
This
is far from the only theory
of economics to be raised to ideology
status - some notable
economically-
based
ideologies include mercantilism,
Social
Darwinism,
communism,
laissez-faire
economics,
and "free
trade".
There
are also current theories of safe
trade and
fair
trade calling
for a revision in terms of trade
which can
be
seen as ideologies. These
ideologies call for a revision of
rules based on which trade
between developed
and
developing countries takes
place.
Interaction
between Legal and Economic
Ideologies
Ideologies
often interact with, and influence,
each other in the real
world. Consider for example,
the
statement
'All are equal before the
law', which is a theory
behind current legal systems,
suggests that all
68
/98-31_files/98-3100002im.jpg" width="696"
height="1066" useMap="#Map">
Introduction
to Cultural Anthropology
SOC401
VU
people
may be of equal worth or
have equal 'opportunities'. This is
not true, because the concept of
private
property
over
the means
of production results
in some people being able to own
more (much
more)
than
others,
and their property brings
power and influence (the rich can
afford better lawyers, among
other
things,
and this puts in question the principle
of equality before the law).
Useful
Terms
Fair
trade the
notion that all countries
should be given a fair price for the
products they export through
international
trade
Terms
of trade the
price which products of different
countries fetch in international
trade
Means
of production
these include land, labor, capital
investments required to produce
something.
Inevitable
-
unavoidable
Synonymous
another term
carrying the same
meaning
Suggested
Readings
Please
visit the following web-site
for this lecture, which
provide useful and interesting
information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology
69