Why has the concept of ideology often been viewed in a negative way?

Question

I'm stuck please only answer if you can help me. Kind regards

Answer 1

hey dame........ good answers already...... heres my tuppence worth....

ideologies in general are never all encompassing... on many levels..socially.. economically.. culturally... to ask people to give up their positions.. wealth... or religions is a hard ask...... till we have a common ideology.. one that would supersede the need to protect such.... well thats another hard ask.......... good luck....

Answer 2

Because ideology has been seen too often as a licence to do anything you want, no matter how inhumane, on the grounds that the ends justify the means.

Answer 3

One ideology which has difficulties and paradoxes is religion which are inherent in the fact that the realities of religion are utterly beyond our capacity for intellectual comprehension.

Mankind secures three great satisfactions from religious experience.

1. Intellectually he acquires the satisfactions of a more unified consciousness.

2. Philosophically he enjoys the substantiation of his ideals of moral values.

3. Spiritually he thrives in the experience of divine companionship, in the spiritual satisfactions of true worship.

God-consciousness, as it is experienced by us consist of three varying factors, three different levels of reality . There is first the mind consciousness--the comprehension of the idea of God. By the unification of these factors of the divine realization, no matter how incomplete, our personality at all times overspreads all conscious levels with a realization of the personality of God.

The experience of God-consciousness remains the same from generation to generation, but with each advancing epoch in our knowledge the philosophic concept and the theologic definitions of God must change. God-knowingness, religious consciousness, is a universe reality, but no matter how valid (real) religious experience is, it must be willing to subject itself to intelligent criticism and reasonable philosophic interpretation; it must not seek to be a thing apart in the totality of human experience.

Eternal survival of personality is wholly dependent on the choosing of  mind, whose decisions determine the survival potential of the immortal soul.

Answer 4

ideology sees everything in ideal perspective, while the real world can't be ideal. the ideology promises everything but when the people who offer this ideology to others sit in power, they can't fulfill all the ting they had promise before. in the end it's the government who take everything and leave the people with nothing.  

Answer 5

It is because of the confusing times we live in. Among the chatting classes (college educated elites) the current morality of the day is cultural relativism, meaning right and wrong are relative concepts based on a person's culture. They see the different ideologies as just different world views. However among the non-educated (but maybe wiser) population ideology means a biased outlook, meaning they hold to an absolute notion of truth. Now since the chatting classes, regardless of their beliefs, can't avoid making moral choices they will also use the word "ideology" as a pejorative. This means almost everyone uses the word only when they are talking about some position they don't like, which they are quick to label as "ideology."  

Edit -- David B, I would agree that the term "chatting class" is a pejorative, Additionally, I would agree that I would most likely be considered part of the chatting class. So what? Regardless of my use of a pejorative it doesn't change the truth or non-truth of the position expressed. If cultural relativism is a true position or not is not important to my thesis, which is that "ideology" is mainly only attached to view points one finds to be false. It is a moral stand being expressed by the person uttering it, which is very funny when it's a cultural relativist. Regardless of that I took no stand in regards to the truth or non-truth of cultural relativism. If you read the paragraph closely you'll notice that. As matter of fact the dictionary definition of "ideology" is actually in line with those I have labeled cultural relativists.

Answer 6

A number of reasons:

- author bias (eg, If I were a capitalist, I might posit negative statements against the communist ideology because it does not support my values of market value, ownership and encourages a classless society which is in contrast to some of the underpinnings of the capitalist ideology, etc)

- some terrible acts resulting in human suffering were committed while the perpetrators claimed to be adhering to a particular ideology (whether this is true or not, it taints the reputation of the ideology itself)

- the notion of ideology has often been linked to the contention that people do not engage in independent thinking, instead simply following others in support of the dominant ideology

- the term ideology is often linked with politics. Given that in the history of the world politics has never been without some form of scandal or corruption etc, the notion of ideology has automatically suffered.

Hope this helps...

Answer 7

Ok I would basically agree with the previous guy who said it was because we don't live in a ideal world. Ideology by its very nature generalises and simplifies problems. The world we live in is a complex and dynamic environment and imposing any hard and fast rules always fails ultimately - there is always an exception to the rule.

I would have to admit to taking a culturally relativistic position because the idea of absolute truth is unsustainable. Whether I agree with the label of chatting class (itself a pejorative) is another matter. Mountain Dweller seems like a bit of a chatter himself.