Political Ideologies IIOther Ideological Traditions
Heywood: Chapter 3
OtherIdeological Traditions1-Fascism
Whereas liberalism, conservatism and socialism are 19thcentury ideologies, fascism is a child of the 20thcentury.Some would say that it is specifically an inter-war phenomenon.Although fascist beliefs can be traced back to the late 19thcentury, they were fused together and shaped by the World War I and its aftermath, and in particular by the potentmixture of war and revolution that characterized the period.
Other Ideological Traditions1-Fascism
Inmany respects, fascism constituted arevolt against the ideas and valuesthat haddominated western political thought since the FrenchRevolution.
Other Ideological Traditions1-Fascism
Valuessuch as rationalism, progress, freedomand equality were thus overturned in the name of struggle, leadership, power, heroismand war.Inthis sense, fascism has an'anticharacter'.Itis defined largelyby whatit opposes:it is a form ofanti-capitalism,anti-liberalism, anti-individualism, anti-communism, and soon.
Other Ideological Traditions1-Fascism
A core theme thatrunsthroughoutfascism isthe image of anorganically unified national community.Theindividual, in a literal sense, is nothing; individualidentity must be absorbed entirely into that of the community orsocial group.Thefascist ideal is that of the'new man', a hero, motivated by duty,honourand self-sacrifice,prepared to dedicate his life to the glory of his nation or race,and togiveunquestioning obedienceto a supreme leader.
Anarchism
Thecentral themeisthe beliefthat politicalauthority in all its forms, andespecially in the form of the state, is bothevilandunnecessary(anarchy literally means 'without rule').Nevertheless, theanarchist preferencefor a stateless society in which free individuals manage their ownaffairs,through voluntary agreement and cooperation has been developed on thebasis oftwo rivaltraditions:LiberalIndividualism, andSocialistCommunitarianism.
Anarchism
Anarchism can thus be thought of as a point of intersection between liberalism and socialism: a form of both 'ultraliberalism' and 'ultrasocialism’.
Feminism
Althoughfeminist aspirations have been expressed in societies dating backto AncientChina, they were not underpinned by a developed political theory untilthe publicationof MaryWollstonecraft's“AVindication of the Rights ofWomen” [1792].Indeed, it was not until the emergence of thewomen's suffrage movementin the1840s and 1850s that feminist ideas reached a wider audience, in the form ofso-called 'first-wave feminism'.
Feminism
Theachievement of female suffrage in mostwestern countriesin the early20thcenturydeprived the women's movement ofits centralgoal and organizing principle.'Second-wavefeminism’, emerged in the1960s.Thisexpressed the more radical, and sometimes revolutionary,demands ofthe growing Women's Liberation Movement (WLM).
Feminism
Feministtheoriesanddoctrines are diverse, but their unifying feature is acommon desire toenhance thesocial role of women.Theunderlying themes offeminism are:societyis characterized by sexual or genderinequality.thisstructure of male power can and should be overturned.
Feminism
Atleast three contrasting feminist traditions can be identified.Liberalfeminists, suchas Wollstonecraft andFriedan,have tended tounderstand femalesubordination in terms of theunequal distribution of rights andopportunitiesinsociety.This'equal-rights feminism' is essentiallyreformist. It is concerned with enhancing the legal and political status of women and improving their educational and career prospects.
Feminism
2)Socialistfeministsemphasize thelinks between female subordination and thecapitalist mode ofproduction.It drawsattention to the economic importance ofwomen beingconfined toa family or domestic life where they, for example, relieve male workers ofthe burdenof domesticlabour, rear and help to educate the next generation ofcapitalist workers, and act asa reserve army oflabour.
Feminism
3) Thedistinctiveflavourof second-wave feminism results mainlyfrom theemergence ofradicalfeminism.Radical feminists believe that genderdivisions arethe most fundamental and politically significant cleavages in society.In their view, all societies, historical and contemporary,are characterizedbypatriarchy,the institution whereby, as Kate Millettputit,'that halfof thepopulation which is female is controlled by that half which ismale’.
Feminism
Radical feminists therefore proclaim the need forasexual revolution, a revolution that will, in particular, restructure personal, domestic and family life.
Environmentalism
Althoughenvironmentalism is usually seen as a new ideology that is linked tothe emergenceof theecological, orGreen, movement in the late20thcentury,its rootscan be traced back to the19th-centuryrevolt against industrialization.
Environmentalism
Environmentalismtherefore reflects concern aboutthe damage done to thenatural worldby the increasing pace of economic development(worsened inthesecond halfof the20thcentury due tonuclear technology, acid rain,ozone depletion, global warming and so on), and anxiety about the declining qualityof humanexistence and, ultimately, the survival of the human species.
Environmentalism
Whatgives environmentalism its radical edge is the fact that it offersan alternativeto theanthropocentricor human-centredstance adopted by allother ideologies; it does not see the natural world simply as a convenient resourceavailableto satisfy human needs.
Environmentalism
Byhighlighting the importance of ecology,environmentalism or, as some of its proponents would prefer to call it,ecologismdevelopsanecocentricworld view that portraysthe human species as merely part of nature.
Religious fundamentalism
Religious fundamentalismviews politics (andindeed allaspects of personal and social existence) as being secondary to the 'revealedtruth’ ofreligious doctrine.Fromthis perspective,political and social life shouldbe organizedon the basis of what are seen as essential or original religious principles, commonlysupported by a belief inthe literal truth of sacred texts.Asit is possibleto developsuch principles into a comprehensive world view, religiousfundamentalism canbe treated as an ideology in its own right.
Religious fundamentalism
Wheredoes religious fundamentalism come from, and what explainsits resurgenceat the end of the20thcentury?2 contrastingexplanationshave beenadvanced.Oneviews fundamentalism as essentiallya symptom ofthe adjustment that societies make as they become accustomed to a modernand secularizedculture.
Religious fundamentalism
Thesecondsuggests that fundamentalism is of enduringsignificance, and believes that it is a consequence of the failure ofsecularismto satisfytheabidinghuman desirefor 'higher' or spiritual truth.
Religious fundamentalism
Formsof religious fundamentalism have arisen in various parts of the world.The significanceof Christian fundamentalism, for example, has increased in theUSA sincethe 1970s as a result of the emergence of the'New Christian Right',which campaignsagainstabortion, and forthe introduction of prayers in US schoolsanda returnto traditional family values.
Religious fundamentalism
InIsrael,Jewishfundamentalism, longrepresented bya collection of small religious parties, has grown in importance as aresult ofattempts to prevent parts of what are seen as the Jewish homeland beingseceded toan emerging Palestinian state.Hindufundamentalism in India has developedto resistthe spread of western secularism, and to combat the influence of rivalcreeds suchas Sikhism and Islam.
The end of ideology?
Muchof the debate about ideology in the late20thcenturyfocused onpredictions ofits demise, or at least of its fading relevance. This came to be known asthe'endof ideology' debate.Itwas initiated in the 1950s, stimulated bythe collapseoffascismat the end of the Second World War andthe decline of communisminthe developedWest.
The end of Ideology?
In“TheEnd of Ideology?: On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the1950s”(1960), the US sociologistDaniel Belldeclared that the stock of political ideas had been exhausted.
The end of ideology?
Inhis view, ethical and ideological questions hadbecomeirrelevantbecause in most western societies parties competed for power simplybypromisinghigher levels of economic growth and material affluence.Inshort,economics hadtriumphed over politics.
The end of ideology?
However, the process to which Bell drewattention wasnot so much an end of ideology as the emergence of abroadideological consensusamongstmajor parties that led to thesuspensionofideological debate.(Theideology that prevailed in the 1950s and 1960s was a form ofwelfare capitalism, which in the UK and elsewhere took the form of a Keynesian-welfaristconsensus).
The end of ideology?
Thevery assertion of an end of ideology, an end of history,or an end of modernity can be seen as ideological in itself.Ratherthan heraldingthe finaldemise of ideology, such assertions mayonly demonstratethatideological debateis alive and well, and that the evolution of ideology is a continuing andperhapsunendingprocess.
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