The Characteristics Of Ideology

The concept culture have some difficult meanings. One of them is culture as in music, preforming, theatre and so. The other meaning of it is culture as in Peoples Identity. It tells something about who you are, where you come from, and what you believe in, in this way, we can see that People

An ideology is a group of ideas (social, economic, culture, etc) about life and accepted as reality by the majority of people in a society. These set of ideas are used by different organizations in the society such as: school, and government, among other, to reinforce such ideology. In a society an ideology serves as means to perpetuate and justify the power of the dominant group.

“Ideology is a cluster of ideas about life, society or government, which originates, in most cases, as consciously advocated dogmatically asserted social, political or religious slogans or battle-cries and which through continuous usage and preaching’s gradually become the

Culture is the characteristics of a group of people defined by language, cuisine, religion social habits music and art. There are many different types of culture including western culture, eastern culture, African culture and many more. Culture is influenced by the groups of people that make up the country (Zimmermann, 2012). The term culture was first used by an English Anthropologist named Edward B. Tyler. It was first mentioned in 1871 in his book named ‘Primitive Culture’. He stated that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. Since then culture is the main focus of anthropology.

It can be argued that ideology is a belief system as Marxist would argue religion is an ideology. Marxists argue that society is divided into two opposed classes, the minority capitalist who own the means of production and the majority property less working class who have to sell their labour. This shows that ideology is a belief system as the ruling class stop the poor from becoming successful, therefore the poor start to believe that they cannot become successful.

Althusser recognised that religion also plays a crucial role in communicating ruling class ideology to the masses. Relating back to Marx’s (1844) description of religion as ‘the opium of the people’. Acknowledging that the teachings of the church are imposed by the ruling class to allow for false consciousness as the church teaches the working-classes to comply with capitalism and provides measures to cope with hardship. Nonetheless, (Giddens, 1971. P: 7) claimed ‘the abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness’. However, ideology is necessary for social life. Regardless if a society has a class system the function of ideology allows for social cohesion (Rancière, 2011).

A culture can be defined as a way of life of a group of people- their behaviors, beliefs, values that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next. It also includes the customs, arts, literature, morals/values and traditions of a particular society or group (Virginia Encyclopedia). Culture can also be considered as a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in places or organizations. This topic is of huge importance to our society mainly in the state of

Althusser identifies a second thesis regarding ideology: "Ideology has a material existence" (Althusser 89). In spite of its necessarily imaginary nature, ideology is only manifested through physical action. This materiality introduces the notion of the subject. "The existence of the ideas of [the subject's] belief is material in that his ideas are his material actions inserted into material practices governed by material rituals which are themselves defined by the material ideological apparatus from which derive the ideas of that subject" (92). Which is to say that, a subject's intellectual ideas are only manifested through the physical actions that are inherently rooted in the ideology. It is impossible to express thought without action, and it is impossible to act without ideology. Thus, ideology becomes not only the imaginary relationship to reality, but also the physicality of reality. Being both the idea of reality and the material manifestation of such, ideology then becomes indistinguishable from reality, leading to Althusser's use of both terms

Ideologies are referred as a set of ideas and values that provides a base for organised political action. They justify and influence the different theories of society and human nature. Ideologies have a big impact on policy making. Democratic and Republican parties differ on their ideologies and values, therefore, impacting policy formulation.

Culture: Culture refers to values, languages, symbols, norms, beliefs, expectations that members of a group possess and the good things they produce and use in their life. Culture is the thing that all the members of a group or society follow.

Ideology is basically a system of meaning that helps define and explain the world and that makes value judgements about the world (Croteau, David, Hoynes, William, Milan, Stefania, 2012). Ideology is related to but broader then concepts such as world-view, belief system and values. Ideologies do not necessarily reflect reality accurately but often they present a distorted version of the world. (Croteau, David, Hoynes, William, Milan, Stefania, 2012). Karl Marx believes that the ruling class control ideology and used a trick to create an illusion of fairness and harmony (Lane, Dr.Karen, 2013) This plainly brings into question human agency and free will however one can argue that those influenced still have the ability to change it (Lane, Dr.Karen, 2013). Italian theorist Antonio Gramsci argued that cultural domination is never fully achieved and that audience awareness is evident but again cultural domination is always in contention (Lane, Dr.Karen, 2013) Gramscian thesis of Hegemony also argued that ruling groups can maintain their power through force, consent, or a combination of the two (Croteau, David, Hoynes, William, Milan,

Culture is described as the symbols that individuals, groups and societies use to make decision of daily life and to assure their values. Culture is a model of basic assumptions invented, discovered or developed by a given organization as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaption and internal combination, which has worked well enough to think correctly and, so to instruct to new comers as the valid way to observe, consider and feel in relation to these problems. Culture consists of manner, mind-set, values, rituals, religious belief, law (written and unwritten), arts, ideas, custom, belief, ceremonies, social institutions, myths and legends, individual identity and behavior. Cultural pattern classifies are used to describe the dominant beliefs and values. Culture has been called the way of life for an entire society. It is a group or community living together and sharing a set of norms. Culture and society are coexistent. One does not or cannot exist without the other. Culture and society may have some common elements but the two are not the same; they are not identical.

Culture is a way of life. It can be defined as a group of people linked by geographical location, ethnicity, gender or age. Culture can be reflected through language, clothing, food, behavior, spirituality and traditions. The behavioral patterns developed through culture are difficult to change.

The political ideology that best represents my views is liberalism. Liberalism is an ideology that emphasizes, “cultural diversity, government programs for the needy, public intervention in the economy, and individuals’ rights to a lifestyle based on their own social and moral positions” (Morone & Kersh, 2014, p. 37). In other words, liberalism promotes government assistance for individuals in need as well as protect every individual’s rights.

Culture can be defined in many ways due to the fact that everyone can have their own distinct and traditional beliefs and values. “ Culture is fluid, it is not a static entity which one takes out of the box on occasion. It is with us daily” (Cultural Handout). Someone’s culture is set as the characteristics of the group practices in language, religion, types of food, social traits and habits, and the distinct arts and music. There are a variety of different cultures for example, Western Culture, Eastern Culture, Latin Culture, Middle Eastern Culture, and African Culture. All of these different cultures have their own ideas, values, and individualism, laws that are implied, civil rights, and even technology. In our, “ Culture Handout” culture is defined as the tool of the mind, “ it is an individual’s way seeing and interacting within the world. It encompasses one’s values systems, beliefs, and perceptions of the world around them. Race, socio-economic class gender, sexual orientation, ability, geographic location, age, religion language, etc. all impact the formation of culture, but these various context are not culture” (Cultural Handout).