Ideologies

Question 1

What is an ideology?

Answer 1

• A shared belief/value within a group
• They often reinforce the values of the dominant/powerful group in society
• They are often seen as preventing social change
• The ideas may be false or misleading

e.g. Karma, predestination, masculine provider ideology

Question 2

What is the Marxist view of ideology?

AO1/2

Answer 2

• The ruling class making ideology as they own the means of production and so hold the power in society
• The RC use ideologies to maintain the status quo
• These ideologies maintain false class consciousness allowing the bourgeoisie to continue to exploit the proletariat

Question 3

What is the neo-marxist view of ideology?

AO3

Answer 3

Gramsci: ideology has been replaced by hegemony - the beliefs of the ruling elite which are accepted by the masses but they still maintain one’s own beliefs
- There is not false class consciousness but dual class consciousness
- The working class accept these beliefs even if they don’t agree with them as they see it’s good for achieving their material goals
- Organic intellectuals can create a counter hegemony

Question 4

How can we analyse Gramsci?

AO3

Answer 4

Abercrombie et al: people often don’t go on strike due to fear of unemployment not because they’re genuinely loyal to the system

Question 5

What is nationalism?

Answer 5

• A political ideology that has impacted the world over the last 200 years
• Belief that national loyalty should come before class, tribe, or religion

Question 6

What do sociologists say about nationalism?

AO1/2/3

Answer 6

• Anderson (functionalist): nationalism causes people to form imagined communities - even though we don’t know everyone who lives in our nation we still feel like they belong because we are a nation of strangers unified by our national identity e.g. during world wars nationalism increases
• Marx: nationalism makes people blind to class divides. The ruling class use nationalism to maintain false class consciousness as people don’t see class division as they see a supposed unity in national identity. Thus Marx said: “Workers of all countries unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains. You have a world to win.”
• Gellner: the main aim of nationalism is to maintain false class consciousness
• Bellah: civil religion - nationalism has become a belief system like religion performing the function of uniting people through shared, beliefs, experiences, and rituals

Question 7

How can we analyse nationalism?

AO3

Answer 7

• Still relevant today - during the euros, world cup, and olympics nationalism increases as we unite to a common goal of competition
• Civil Religion is especially relevant in the USA - pledge of allegiance to the flag and national anthem

Question 8

How can we evaluate nationalism?

AO3

Answer 8

• Nationalism can actually create division and conflict e.g. the EDL
• Nationalism is enforced through assimilation policies in the ethnocentric curriculum

Question 9

What is the feminist view of ideology?

AO1

Answer 9

• Ideology maintains patriarchy - the fundamental societal inequality
• e.g. belief that women belong in the home
• e.g. belief that men should dominate women
• These ideologies are perpetuated by canalisation and agents of socialisation - especially religion and education

Question 10

What feminist talks about ideology?

AO2

Answer 10

Simone De Beauvoir: The Second Sex
- femininity is a social construct created by patriarchal ideology
- this ideology forces women into complicitness while allowing them to be villanised in public opinion
- “One is not born, but rather, becomes a woman”
- “No biological, psychic, or economic destiny defines the figure that the human female takes on in society; it is civilization as a whole that elaborates this intermediary product between the male and the eunuch that is called feminine.”

Question 11

How can we analyse the feminist view of ideology?

AO3

Answer 11

• Policies like GIST and WISE encourage women to not only be in education but enter male dominated fields
• The Church of England ordained the first female priests in 1994

Question 12

How can we evaluate the feminist view?

AO3

Answer 12

• Liberal Feminists: there has been a march of progress which means society has moved from these patriarchal ideologies
• Monotheistic religions are more likely to promote patriarchal ideology - polytheistic religions often have female deities e.g. Athena being goddess of wisdom, Kali being the bhuddist goddess of time, change, and power
• Patricia Hill Collins: black women use religion as resistance from racism

Question 13

What is the difference between ideology and religion?

include sociologist

AO1/2

Answer 13

• Religious beliefs are not necessarily tied to the interests of a particular social group like ideologies are
• e.g. ideologies like breadwinner/homemaker only maintain patiarchy whereas religion has been used by minorities to drive social change e.g. Martin Luther King was a baptist pastor
• Weber: theodicies in working class churches are different to the theodicies taught in ruling class churches e.g. easier for a camel to enter the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God VS ‘all things bright and beautiful’ - God choosing to make rich people rich and poor people poor rather than unfair wealth divides

Question 14

What are some examples of scientific ideology?

AO1/2/3

Answer 14

• Craniology: study of skull shape and size - used to justify white supremacy and slavery
• Eugenics: used by Nazis to justify extermination of certain ethnic groups and those with disabilities - deemed ‘unfit’ to reproduce
• Post natal depression: used to reinforce idea that women are overly emotional and dismiss female mental health. Also maintains idea that motherhood should be the centre of a woman’s life and women who don’t immediately attach to their infant are ill/abnormal
• Gomm: British used Darwin’s theory of ‘survival of the fittest’ to justify colonisation

Question 15

What does Manheim say about ideology?

AO1/3

Answer 15

• All belief systems are one sided and offer a partial worldview
• Ideological thought = keeping things the way they are often in favour of privileged groups e.g. Functionalists
• Utopian thought = justifies social change by presenting an over-idealised vision of how society could be e.g. Marxism
• The best way to formulate ideology is to have a free floating intelligensia - academics have to separate from any groups they may identify with to remain objective e.g. don’t identify as a class, ethnic, religious group etc
• Only this way can we find ideologies that can actually benefit society

Question 16

How can we analyse Manheim?

AO3

Question 17

How can we evaluate Manheim?

AO3

Answer 17

• Impractical: for people to complete separate from identities
• Being subjective can be a good thing. Becker: sociology should be about taking the underdog approach