Political Ideologies - Essay Example

30 September Political ideologies are an indispensable part of our modern world: Themeaning and implications of the term political ideology have been different in every epoch. As one of the most elusive and controversial concepts of all times, political ideology has maintained its dynamic nature from prehistoric to present times. The extract of this concept is to assessing and acknowledge the real content of political thought. The journey of ideology from a being a simple word to becoming a key political term started from the works of Karl Max and yet, the meaning granted to this concept by Marx stands in contrast with the one studied in mainstream political analysis as a standard.

Marx’s opinion about ideology and its implications emphasizes on mystification and class system. It is believed by Marxists that the term ideology in politics gained a controversial nature from the fact that it forces interests of the ruling class on society thus class system is made a key element of ideology. The ideas of the ruling class always become the ruling ideas which have to be accepted by those who lack the means of mental production because the ruling class acquires control over the means of mental production also.

Regarding the origin of the term ideology, it was first coined during the French Revolution when it was opinioned that political ideology would grow up to become the queen of all sciences. The original meaning of this term lost its value in the coming years to be replaced by Marx’s use of the term and the interest taken by generations of Marxists in the new color ascribed to ideology by Marx explains the popularity of ideology as a key science in modern social and political world. Ideology is also largely thought of as a manifestation of power in that it not only develops a class system but also supports a system of unequal class power in a society.

This means that the ideas of the ruling class become an ideology which has to be accepted by those who are less powerful in a society no matter how exploitative the implications of that ideology may turn out to be. The ruling ideas of any age make up an ideology which explains why this term keeps changing colors with every age. However, in later years the term ideology in politics was separated from any negative connotations like mystification and class position as suggested by Marx which also largely put an end to the cold war between science and ideology.

The journey of the term ideology suffered huge ups and down with the emergence of dictatorships like Nazi in Germany and Stalinist in Russia when the scholars began to use the term ideology with extreme restrictiveness. In those times in response to growing dictatorship, suppressed criticism, and regimented obedience, the term ideology implied closed system of though with no room for criticism or debate. It began to be seen as a concept having a totalizing character which absolutely refused to consider any criticism or opposing ideas.

In later years, ideology began to be equated with dogmatism as a result of which ideological style of politics started to be rejected by conservatives who have suggested that such politics attempts on reshaping the world in accordance with a set of abstract principles.