is What Ideology? Ideology is, according to David McLellan ,,the most elusive concept in the whole of the social sciences. Its definition is not only elusive, but also controversial indeed, its meaning will vary considerably depending on who one asks. The word itself dates back to post-revolutionary France and experts still debate whether the term was coined by Antoine Destutt de Tracy, or by the French philosopher de Maistre. Its meaning however has changed dramatically over those two centuries. Originally, ideology was supposed to mean ,,the science of ideas, which effectively meant the study of the dominant ideas and philosophy of the age. Several meanings have been attached to ideology; some have claimed that ideology is simply a political belief system while others go further to say that it is the world view of a particular social class or group or even an officially sanctioned set of ideas used to legitimize a political system or regime. Karl Marx, 1818-1883, took a rather more critical view of ideology. He declared that ideology was all about delusion and mystification and the whole concept was directly linked to the class system. He also thought ideology was not a natural companion of science, but instead a direct opponent. There was no middle ground between the two. This said, he stated that the proletariat does not need ideology due to the working class having no illusions. He therefore condemned ideology as a manifestation of power used by the ruling classes. This crisp idea of ideology was however blurred by later communists such as Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) and Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) who referred not only to ,,bourgeoisie ideology but also to socialist and proletarian ideologies. Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990) was a conservative thinker who had a different view to ideology; he viewed ideologies as abstract ,,systems of thought. This was a charismatically conservative idea which hinges on the ideas of rationalism and the belief that the world is largely beyond the capacity of the human mind to fathom. As can be seen, the term ideology has no set definition. Wittgenstein (1889-1951) even went so far as to say that any definition was impossible. Either the definition would too be vague, thereby excluding or blurring the key fundamental points, or it would be too narrow, thus not encompassing the key elements to ideology. It may be simpler to look at a selection of different parts of an ideology individually, and use that list to decide what constitutes, and what does not, an ideology. For example, most ideologies often have a view of human nature. Some will argue that human nature in inextricably selfish, but others may argue that it is society that has created that selfish nature. Most ideologies contain a critique of existing society (all of course except conservatism for whom it would defy their basic principles to have such a critique). With this critique, they usually will have a vision of a better society, and perhaps more importantly, should outline the method or process of attaining that better society. Many ideologies, and Marxism is a case in point, also include a "call to arms"- Karl Marx himself declared "workers of the world, unite!"
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Since the end of the cold war, which was in itself an ideological war, ideology has been established as a neutral and objective concept. Rather than a single, dominant view, we now use the word ideology to refer to any established, coherent political philosophy, whether it be mainstream such as socialism, fascism or anarchism, or less well known such as centrism. Ultimately, the is no one idea of what is meant by ideology; instead, there is a collection of many different ideas submitted by different people. The common understanding of the word also changes dramatically, as can be seen by looking back over the last two centuries to when the word was first coined. When first used, it was hoped that ideology would become a mainstream science that was studied along side biology and zoology. Marx then declared that ideology could not be scientific and thereby transformed the term, at least among Marxists into a term that is pejorative. He stated the Marxism itself was a science, and claimed that his statement could be proved objectively. Its meaning is still the subject of discussion amongst scholars and even they may never produce a definition which can be accepted by all.
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