Utopianism functions like a microscope: by first isolating then magnifying aspects of existing, non- utopian societies allegedly needing drastic improvements, it enables us to see more clearly their political, economic, cultural and psychological mainstreams. Segal, Howard. Utopias. A Brief History from Ancient Writings to Virtual Communities. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012 (xi)

Intertextuality and other postmodern theories isolating literature from the outside world (rejection of the mimetic principle): Literature non-political Contrary experience: literature part of politics, expression of political sentiments (indirectly) influences political action

Karl Mannheim ( ) Ideology and Utopia (1929) escapism or possibility total ideology The utopia of yesterday may be the ideology of tomorrow

”Strictly speaking it is incorrect to say that the single individual thinks. Rather… he participates in thinking further what other men thought before him.”

Understanding ideologies can also help us understand ourselves Self-identity Building an identity process of identity building is achieved through identification with like-minded others. Lyman Tower Sargent, Contemporary Political Ideologies, Belmont: Wadsworth, 2009

Ideology is often a disguise for a lust for power We are surrounded by expressions of ideology. Our parents, friends, teachers, religious leaders, and politicians, newspapers or magazines, radio, TV, web we are exposed to a range of ideologies.

An ideology is a system of values and beliefs regarding the various institutions and processes of society that is accepted as fact or truth by a group of people. An ideology provides the believer with a picture of the world both as it is and as it should be, and, in doing so, it organizes the tremendous complexity of the world into something fairly simple and understandable. Ideologies are organized or patterned beliefs. Lyman Tower Sargent

Ideologies are stories about the world we live in and our place in that world. When we tell a story, we structure information to communicate our understanding of something to someone else. Essentially narrative structures (cf. Hayden White) relationship to literature Pattern (vs. Chaos)

How do we identify an ideology? particular words that are associated with the ideology. For example, someone influenced by capitalism will usually speak favorably of the free market; anarchists will usually speak of the state negatively Scholars disagree on the meaning and importance of ideology. “Ideology is the most elusive concept in the whole of social science.” (McLellan) an essentially contested concept,

Each ideology has positive and negative elements, things that the ideology supports and things that it rejects, and these are mutually reinforcing. A political ideology is, in its simplest formulation, an ideology that focuses on the political. The political system is the way that societies make decisions about their most important values; Not necessarily theoretical, but often associated with a social movement

The word ideology was first used by Antoine Louis Claude Destutt, Comte de Tracy (1754– 1836) at the end of the eighteenth century to describe an approach to understanding how ideas are formed. (science of ideas) But it was the middle of the nineteenth century before the term came to be used regularly with a different meaning, and only in the twentieth century did it become a contested concept.

ideologies blind people to facts about their place in society. He described as ideological any set of political illusions produced by the social experiences of a class—that is, a social group defined by its economic role Engels: ideology=false consciousness The individual cannot have a true picture of reality but only a social construct

Dominant ideology is not a question of objective and intellectual contest of ideas (ideologies), but deterined by power (Judith Shklar based on Marx) Marxism ideology as well: rooted in the social position of the proponent So is classical liberalism No universally acceptable ideology according to Mannheim

Ideas shape mankind’s social development How do individuals contribute to the history of ideas? (J. Shklar) groups? Do ideas shape actions? Do individuals shape history? (structuralist – intentionalist)

Most prominent political ideologies Nationalism (vs. Globalisation) Democracy Capitalism Socialism Conservatism Liberalism

Anarchism Fascism, national socialism Marxism, communism Feminism Environmentalism

Religious political ideologies Islamic political ideologies Liberation theologies

Postmodernism Ideology? Capacity of undermining any ideology by relativizing truth We are all complex identities