The word ideology was established at the time of the French revolution by a man named Destutt de Tracy, originally meaning the science of ideas. Not only did this science look at the Social World and examine its current state, it also realised its imperfections and sought to improve society in whatever way it could, in that way ideology was “science with a mission” Encyclopaedia Britannica. And the mission it undertook was to create a democratic rational and liberal society which could speak freely of their views and liberate man from prejudice. De Tracy hoped that, being the science of ideas, ideology would become the science that linked all others together, such as zoology, biology, theology etc.
However the word was later sieged upon by the Communist writer Karl Marx, and for him ideology was the ideas of the ‘ruling class’. Marx says that they are ideas that serve the ruling class to conceal the contradictions of class society. The way in which this occurs is by promoting false consciousness and political passivity to the working class, therefore preventing their (more important) view being heard. Marx, along with Engel wrote about their views in the book The German Ideology. In their view, a clear line could be drawn between science and ideology, and he said that his own work, which tried to shed light on the reality that there was class exploitation and oppression in all societies. Engles particularly said that the Bourgeoisie used ideology to protect themselves. Later Marxists such as Lenin and Gramschi, further blurred the answer to out question… Lenin thought that a new alternative to the Bourgeois view was needed, and this view would be the Proletariat ideology. Gramchi on the other hand argued that Capitalism is so widespread that it was impossible to envisage anything else. He went on to say that Workers could not start their own revolution, but instead had to get over the ideological hegemony.
Alternative views to those of the late communists arose from liberals, who believed that the Marxists had a monopoly of truth, and conservatives. The Conservatives were lead by Michael Oakenshot who thought that the Marxist ideology pointed Politics toards abstract Politics and goals, and lead away from Political and historical circumstance. In the interwar period, countries such as Italy, Germany and Russia were lead by totalitarian leadership. These countries therefore were opposed to opposition and anyone with an open mind.
Karl Popper, 1902-1994, was a totalitarian writer who viewed ideology as an instrument of Social control to ensure compliance and subordination, And thereby treated ideology as a closed system. Liberalism concerned itself with a fundamental commitment to giving individuals the freedom to express themselves.
In the 1960’s Daniel Bell proclaimed “The End of Ideology”. This is the idea that both History and ideology have been reduced to insignificance because Western democratic politics and capitalism have, in his view triumphed. And at the time he was attacked by Left Wing critics who claimed that he had lost his grip on reality.
Francis Fuguyama was heavily influenced by the work of Hegel, who says that it is ideological competition that drives society forward. However now due to the fall of communism, the last remining rival to liberalism, we are witnessing the end of History. He predicts that the marginalisation of the other ideologies will merely strengthen the position of liberalism. His last point is that much of out technological development was powered by ideological rivalries, and now without this rivalry, progression will be less effective.
