ideology

English

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Etymology

Borrowed from French idéologie, from idéo- +‎ -logie (equivalent to English ideo- +‎ -logy). Cognate with, but not derived from, idea. Coined 1796 by Antoine Destutt de Tracy. Modern sense of “doctrine” attributed to use of related idéologue (“ideologue”) by Napoleon Bonaparte as a term of abuse towards political opponents in early 1800s.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌaɪ.diːˈɒl.ə.d͡ʒiː/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /aɪ.diˈɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, /ɪ.diˈɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/

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• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌɑɪ.diːˈɔl.ə.d͡ʒiː/
• Rhymes: -ɒlədʒi

Noun

ideology (countable and uncountable, plural ideologies)

1. Doctrine, philosophy, body of beliefs or principles belonging to an individual or group.

   A dictatorship bans things, that do not conform to its ideology, to secure its reign.

   • 2014 November 17, Roger Cohen, “The horror! The horror! The trauma of ISIS [print version: International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 9]”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     What is unbearable, in fact, is the feeling, 13 years after 9/11, that America has been chasing its tail; that, in some whack-a-mole horror show, the quashing of a jihadi enclave here only spurs the sprouting of another there; that the ideology of Al Qaeda is still reverberating through a blocked Arab world whose Sunni-Shia balance (insofar as that went) was upended by the American invasion of Iraq.

   • 2022 August 24, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Rail strikes deadlock”, in RAIL, number 964, page 3:

     Ideology constantly gets in the way. For the Government, unions are militant "Trots" out to cause political trouble. For the unions, the private sector is a grasping, evil leech. Neither is true.

2. (uncountable) The study of the origin and nature of ideas.

Usage notes

Original meaning “study of ideas” (following the etymology), today primarily used to mean “doctrine”. For example “communist ideology” generally refers to “communist doctrine”; study of communist ideas instead being “communist philosophy”, or more clearly “philosophy of communism”; only rarely “ideology of communism”.

Derived terms

• gender ideology
• ideolog
• ideologic
• ideological
• ideologically
• ideologisation
• ideologise
• ideologiser
• ideologist
• ideologization
• ideologize
• ideologizer
• ideologue
• successor ideology

 

Translations

doctrine, body of ideas

• Afrikaans: ideologie
• Albanian: ideologji (sq) f
• Arabic: إِيدِيُولُوجِيَّة f (ʔīdiyulūjiyya)
• Armenian: գաղափարախոսություն (hy) (gaġapʻaraxosutʻyun)
• Asturian: ideoloxía f
• Azerbaijani: görüş (az), ideologiya, məfkurə
• Belarusian: ідэало́гія f (idealóhija), ідэалёгія f (idealjóhija)
• Bengali: ভাবাদর্শ (bn) (bhabadorśo)
• Bulgarian: идеоло́гия (bg) f (ideológija)
• Burmese: အယူဝါဒ (my) (a.yuwada.)
• Carpathian Rusyn: ідеоло́ґія f (ideológija)
• Catalan: ideologia (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 意識形態／意识形态 (zh) (yìshi xíngtài), 思想意識／思想意识 (zh) (sīxiǎng yìshi), 思想體系／思想体系 (zh) (sīxiǎng tǐxì), 意締牢結／意缔牢结 (yìdìláojié) (obsolete), 理念 (zh) (lǐniàn)

• Czech: ideologie (cs) f
• Danish: ideologi c
• Dutch: ideologie (nl) f
• Esperanto: idearo
• Estonian: ideoloogia (et)
• Finnish: ideologia (fi), aatemaailma, maailmankatsomus (fi)
• French: idéologie (fr) f
• Galician: ideoloxía (gl) f
• Georgian: იდეოლოგია (ideologia)
• German: Ideologie (de) f
• Greek: ιδεολογία (el) f (ideología)
• Hebrew: אִידֵאוֹלוֹגִיָה (he) f (ideológya)
• Hindi: विचारधारा f (vicārdhārā), नज़रिया m (nazariyā)
• Hungarian: ideológia (hu)
• Icelandic: hugmyndafræði f
• Indonesian: ideologi (id)
• Irish: idé-eolaíocht f
• Italian: ideologia (it) f
• Japanese: 観念形態 (かんねんけいたい, kannen keitai), イデオロギー (ja) (ideorogī), 理念 (ja) (りねん, rinen)
• Kazakh: идеология (ideologiä)
• Khmer: មនោគមវិជ្ជា (mĕəʼnoo kɔɔm vɨcciə)
• Korean: 이데올로기 (ko) (ide'ollogi), 이념(理念) (ko) (inyeom), 리념(理念) (ko) (rinyeom) (North Korean)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بیرو باوەر (bîru bawer)

  Northern Kurdish: îdeolojî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: идеология (ky) (ideologiya)
• Lao: ອຸດົມການ (ʼu dom kān)
• Latin: ideologia f
• Latvian: ideoloģija f
• Lithuanian: ideologija f
• Macedonian: идеологија f (ideologija)
• Malay: ideologi, adicita (ms)
• Malayalam: പ്രത്യയശാസ്ത്രം (pratyayaśāstraṁ)
• Maltese: ideologija f
• Maori: kaupapa whakaaro
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: үзэл суртал (üzel surtal), идеологи (ideologi)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ideologi m

  Nynorsk: ideologi m

• Pashto: ايديولوژي f (idioloži), ايډيالوجي f (iḍyāloji)
• Persian: ایدِئولوژی (fa) (ide'oloži)
• Polish: ideologia (pl) f
• Portuguese: ideologia (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਵਿਚਾਰਧਾਰਾ f (vicārdhārā)
• Romanian: ideologie (ro) f
• Russian: идеоло́гия (ru) f (ideológija), мировоззре́ние (ru) n (mirovozzrénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: идеоло̀гија f

  Roman: ideològija (sh) f

• Sinhalese: දෘෂ්ටිවාදය (dr̥ṣṭiwādaya)
• Slovak: ideológia f
• Slovene: ideologija f
• Spanish: ideología (es) f
• Swedish: ideologi (sv) c
• Tagalog: sangkuruan
• Tajik: идеология (tg) (ideologiya), мафкура (mafkura)
• Tatar: идеология (ideoloğiyä)
• Thai: อุดมการณ์ (th) (ù-dom-má-gaan)
• Turkish: ideoloji (tr)
• Turkmen: ideologiýa
• Ukrainian: ідеоло́гія f (ideolóhija)
• Urdu: نَظَرِیَہ m (nazariyā)
• Uyghur: ئىدېئولوگىيە (idë'ologiye)
• Uzbek: ideologiya (uz), mafkura (uz)
• Yiddish: אידעאָלאָגיע f (ideologye)

study of the origin and nature of ideas

• Afrikaans: ideologie
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: ideaoppi
• French: idéologie (fr) f
• Galician: ideoloxía (gl) f
• Irish: idé-eolaíocht f
• Khmer: មនោគមវិជ្ជា (mĕəʼnoo kɔɔm vɨcciə)
• Korean: 관념학(觀念學) (gwannyeomhak)
• Romanian: ideologie (ro) f
• Russian: идеоло́гия (ru) f (ideológija)
• Spanish: ideología (es) f
• Tagalog: palakuruan

Further reading

• "ideology" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 153.
• “ideology”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “ideology”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• eidology