Political Science 1020E Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Egalitarianism, Scientific Socialism
Document Summary
Ideology: an ideology is a value or belief system that is accepted as fact or truth by some group. It is composed of sets of attitudes towards the various institutions and processes of society. Ideology is not mere personal opinion but a social belief accepted by large numbers of people and passed on by the normal channels of cultural transmission. Ideology always involves a mixture of factual and moral beliefs. Because governmental legitimacy is an inherently ethical problem, ideology always includes beliefs about how people should act and what they should consider right and wrong. Ideology, as a mass belief, is somewhat simplified. It is important to say more or less because the integration is never perfect. All of us have some surprising contradictions in our opinions. Ideology is not a mere personal opinion, but a social belief by large numbers of people a. It is passed on by the normal channels of cultural transmission.