Contemporary Ideologies

Utility of Ideology: Do you find ideologies useful? Why or why not?

By Etienne Rutkowski (2021)

The existence of ideologies is important and useful. This is not to say that ideologies themselves are useful and important; while ideologies can be consequential and destructive, the mechanism of placing individual worldviews within the broader framework of society (and its underlying politics) is useful. As ideologies represent a system of social and political ideals, a critical view of ideology could itself be considered part of an ideological perspective (as it is politicizing the implications of what is fundamentally a societal mechanism). I consider the broader concept of ideology to be ideologically neutral by nature. The presence of the formulation of socio-political and economic ideas and belief systems cannot itself be ascribed to a disputable perspective. Once again, that is not to say that individual ideologies should all be considered useful and important to society and politics, as even pervasive ideologies are seen by many as destructive and harmful. However, considering an ideology to be destructive or harmful is by its very nature a reflection of an ideological framework. Ideologies are omnipresent and relative to one another; in removing any (ideological) connotations to the concept itself, it is clear that ideology is a useful mechanism in understanding society and politics.