The 4 Types Of Ideology That Exist, And The Values they Defend
The predominant types of ideology today They explain a good part of how we behave collectively. And although it may not seem like it, in our ways of thinking there are always beliefs and perspectives that we have inherited from previous generations and that determine a good part of our actions. Freethinkers simply do not exist.
In this article we will see what the main types of ideology are and what ideas and beliefs they are based on.
The ideology is a system of beliefs, ideas, and feelings that guide our thinking when interpreting what the world is like and the social phenomena that occur in it. Thus, they are cognitive schemes on which we rely to think.
Below we will review these types of ideology, but first we must be clear that these are valid today, that they have not always existed and that in the future they will mutate or even disappear to make way for others.
1. Religious conservatism and far-right ideologies
Religious conservatism is characterized by making the religious beliefs of a religious group to which one belongs mark the political agenda, normally aimed at making the symbols, rituals and beliefs associated with that religion prevail.
That means that in this ideology the content of sacred texts is of great importance and that the answers to many of life’s questions are sought in them, regardless of what reality shows us through experience.
It is common for this ideology to use terms such as “sacrilegious” or “unnatural” to define activities or habits that are considered to go against faith, which by definition is not questioned: in fact, blind belief is rewarded without ask for necessary tests to see if what is predicted is fulfilled.
On the other hand, an extreme right ideology is one in which it is about repress people and groups for not fitting into ideas linked to “essences” These essences can be referred to the country and the nation, on the one hand, attributing to a territory some customs, symbols and rituals, as well as frequently a religion, language and race, as well as to the human condition, also pointing out a series of behaviors supposedly ” unnatural.”
Thus, both conservatism and its more radical far-right versions They are characterized by essentialism and the identification of political and social objectives with ideas about what the correct society should be according to arbitrary parameters based on the supernatural.
2. Liberalism
Liberalism is a type of ideology based on individualism, that is, attention to one’s own needs. On the other hand, the analyzes of society, economy and politics that are carried out from this position also place one’s own subjectivity in a priority place. and freedom of choice which is given more importance than economic equality.
The concept of private property has great importance in liberalism, since it is seen practically as an extension of one’s own Self. This is why the need to be able to do practically whatever one wants with private property, as well as with one’s own body, is defended, without being accountable to anyone, as long as this does not directly harm other individuals.
On the other hand, certain initiatives are defended from liberalism taking into account the journeys they represent and the analysis of whether these are legitimate or not, which is why it is considered an idealist ideology.
Socialism is fundamentally one of the types of collectivist ideology that, unlike religious conservatism (also collectivist), are secular. That is, to disengage from any religion and reject any initiative that has to do with regulating political and social life based on beliefs in the divine.
On the other hand, socialism clearly differs from liberalism in two fundamental aspects. We have already seen the first one, and that is liberalism is individualistic, while socialism is collectivist which means that it gives a lot of importance to social phenomena, which cannot be explained by focusing only on the actions and preferences of individuals, as if they were isolated from each other.
The second difference is that while liberalism is idealist, socialism is materialist; not in a moral sense (socialism rejects consumerism) but in a philosophical sense: ideas do not matter, but the facts and their effects in the world For example, from this ideology it is considered that the idea of freedom means nothing if that freedom is given to people who, due to their poverty, are forced to choose only between precarious jobs in which they will be exploited.
Furthermore, as in socialism has a historical perspective by going beyond the individual point out several problems inherited from generation to generation, most of which have to do with the concentration of capital in a few hands and with the subjection of women to men that has occurred historically and that clearly continues to occur in many countries even nowadays.
On the other hand, in this type of ideology there are two different variants: anarchism and communism.
Anarchism is a type of ideology based on socialism that defends the need to collectivize goods, that is, make resources exist in the hands of a minority. On the other hand, it should be noted that There are different types of anarchism (or libertarianism) and not everyone proposes the same strategies to achieve it.
3.2. Communism
Communists, whose ideology has been greatly influenced by the ideas of philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, advocate a planned economy and the use of the State to end various forms of domination by elites.
However, we must not confuse the ideological conceptions of socialism and communism with socialism and communism understood as historical contexts, parts of a political project. You can know more about this in this article: “The 5 differences between socialism and communism”
4. Social democracy
Social democrats adopt elements of liberals and socialists. On the one hand, they do not simply focus on the individualistic analysis of reality. On the other hand, they renounce the idea of eliminating problems of inequality and dominance through the elimination of private property over the means of production (that is, technological or natural resources that create wealth if others work on them: factories, fields…). Instead of that, They try to find a balance based on the redistribution of wealth
