Autarky is the characteristic of self-sufficiency , usually applied to societies, communities, states, and their economic systems .
94-408: Autarky as an ideology or economic approach has been attempted by a range of political ideologies and movements, particularly leftist ones like African socialism , mutualism , war communism , communalism , swadeshi , syndicalism (especially anarcho-syndicalism ), and left-wing populism , generally in an effort to build alternative economic structures or to control resources against structures
188-603: A fischblütige Bourgeoisdoktrinär (a "fish-blooded bourgeois doctrinaire"). The term has since dropped some of its pejorative sting ( euphemism treadmill ), and has become a neutral term in the analysis of differing political opinions and views of social groups . While Marx situated the term within class struggle and domination, others believed it was a necessary part of institutional functioning and social integration . There are many different kinds of ideologies, including political , social , epistemological , and ethical . Recent analysis tends to posit that ideology
282-503: A descriptive sense to refer to political belief systems . The term ideology originates from French idéologie , itself deriving from combining Greek : idéā ( ἰδέα , 'notion, pattern'; close to the Lockean sense of idea ) and -logíā ( -λογῐ́ᾱ , 'the study of'). The term ideology and the system of ideas associated with it was coined in 1796 by Antoine Destutt de Tracy while in prison pending trial during
376-404: A liberal philosophy that would defend individual liberty , property , free markets , and constitutional limits on state power. He argues that, among these aspects, ideology is the most generic term because the 'science of ideas' also contains the study of their expression and deduction. The coup d'état that overthrew Maximilien Robespierre allowed Tracy to pursue his work. Tracy reacted to
470-662: A reactionary stance, influenced the Italian, Spanish and Russian thinkers who had begun to describe themselves as liberals and who attempted to reignite revolutionary activity in the early 1820s, including the Carbonari societies in France and Italy and the Decembrists in Russia . Karl Marx adopted Napoleon's negative sense of the term, using it in his writings, in which he once described Tracy as
564-824: A social movement , institution , class , or large group that explains how society should work, offering some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order . Political ideologies are concerned with many different aspects of a society, including but not limited to: the economy , the government , the environment , education , health care , labor law , criminal law , the justice system , social security and welfare , public policy and administration , foreign policy , rights , freedoms and duties , citizenship , immigration , culture and national identity , military administration, and religion . Political ideologies have two dimensions: A political ideology largely concerns itself with how to allocate power and to what ends power should be used. Some parties follow
658-400: A "critical reflection of the ideology concept". In his work, he strove to bring the concept of ideology into the foreground, as well as the closely connected concerns of epistemology and history, defining ideology in terms of a system of presentations that explicitly or implicitly lay claim to absolute truth. Marx's analysis sees ideology as a system of false consciousness that arises from
752-667: A Bacaudic revolt in Armorica . St Germanus got mercy for the Bagaudae but they later revolted again under a leader called Tibatto. They are also mentioned around the same time in the province of Macedonia, the only time they emerge in the Eastern Empire, which may be connected with economic hardships under Arcadius . By the middle of the fifth century they started to appear in Hispania too, and are mentioned in control of parts of central Gaul and
846-414: A Socialist education." Local and regional farming autarkies in many areas of Africa and Southeast Asia were displaced by European colonial administrations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who sought to push smallholder villages into larger plantations that, while less productive, they could more easily control. The self-sufficient communities and societies ended by colonialism were later cited as
940-405: A certain ideology very closely, while others may take broad inspiration from a group of related ideologies without specifically embracing any one of them. Each political ideology contains certain ideas on what it considers the best form of government (e.g., democracy , demagogy , theocracy , caliphate etc.), scope of government (e.g. authoritarianism , libertarianism , federalism , etc.) and
1034-570: A closed economy that prohibited outside trade and focused on centralized distribution of goods produced in localized farms and workshops. A hierarchy of bureaucrats oversaw the distribution of these resources from central depots, including a massive one located in the Forbidden City . That depot was, at the time, the largest logistical base in the world. The Incan Empire also maintained a system of society-wide autarky based on community levies of specific goods and "supply on command". In some areas of
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#17330927690341128-538: A contributing factor to the eventual Bronze Age Collapse when multiple crises hit those systems at once. After that collapse, the ideal of autarkeia formed a part of emerging Greek political culture, emphasizing economic self-sufficiency and local self-rule. The populist Chinese philosophy of Agriculturalism , prominent in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, supported egalitarian, self-sufficient societies as an antidote to rampant war and corruption. During
1222-483: A declining Empire. During the chaos, the bagaudae achieved some temporary and scattered successes under the leadership of members of the underclass as well as former members of local ruling elites. The name probably means "fighters" in Gaulish . C. E. V. Nixon assesses the bagaudae , from the official Imperial viewpoint, as "bands of brigands who roamed the countryside looting and pillaging". J. C. S. Léon interprets
1316-574: A gain in electoral political power when its involvement proved pivotal to the 2013 mayoral election of Chokwe Lumumba and the 2017 election of his son, Chokwe Antar Lumumba . Ideology#Political ideologies An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely about belief in certain knowledge , in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Formerly applied primarily to economic , political , or religious theories and policies, in
1410-599: A key raw material . Some countries have a policy of autarky with respect to foodstuffs (as South Korea ), and water for national-security reasons. Autarky can result from economic isolation or from external circumstances in which a state or other entity reverts to localized production when it lacks currency or excess production to trade with the outside world. The word autarky is from the Ancient Greek word Greek : αὐτάρκεια , which means "self-sufficiency" (derived from αὐτο-, "self", and ἀρκέω, "to suffice"). In Stoicism
1504-417: A key part of alter-globalization efforts. The Cochabamba Water War had Bolivians successfully oppose the privatization of their water system to keep the resource in public hands. Today, national economic autarkies are relatively rare. A commonly-cited example is North Korea , based on the government ideology of Juche ( self-reliance ), which is concerned with maintaining its domestic localized economy in
1598-424: A number of other propositions, which are. In this way, the essence of the lacunar discourse is what is not told but is suggested. For example, the statement "All are equal before the law ", which is a theoretical groundwork of current legal systems, suggests that all people may be of equal worth or have equal opportunities. This is not true, according to Althusser, for the concept of private property and power over
1692-524: A particular movement views as hostile. Conservative , centrist and nationalist movements have also adopted autarky, generally on a more limited scale, to develop a particular industry , to gain independence from other national entities or to preserve part of an existing social order . Proponents of autarky have argued for national self-sufficiency to reduce foreign economic, political and cultural influences, as well as to promote international peace. Economists are generally supportive of free trade . There
1786-511: A society and politically confuses the alienated groups of society via false consciousness . Some explanations have been presented. Antonio Gramsci uses cultural hegemony to explain why the working-class have a false ideological conception of what their best interests are. Marx argued: "The class which has the means of material production at its disposal has control at the same time over the means of mental production." The Marxist formulation of "ideology as an instrument of social reproduction"
1880-501: A society based on communalism , Rojava's government and constitution emphasize economic self-sufficiency directed by neighborhood and village councils. Rojavan society and economics are influenced by Bookchin's ideas, including the emphasis on local and regional self governance. Under changes made in 2012 property and business belong to those who live in or use it towards these goals, while infrastructure, land and major resources are commons run by local and regional councils. Bookchin however
1974-484: A sole explanation of ideology is that it does not explain the differences between ideologies. Terror management theory posits that ideology is used as a defence mechanism against threats to their worldview which in turn protect and individuals sense of self-esteem and reduce their awareness of mortality. Evidence shows that priming individuals with an awareness of mortality does not cause individuals to respond in ways underpinned by any particular ideology, but rather
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#17330927690342068-405: A tradition going back to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels , more recent use treats the term as mainly condemnatory. The term was coined by Antoine Destutt de Tracy , a French Enlightenment aristocrat and philosopher , who conceived it in 1796 as the "science of ideas" to develop a rational system of ideas to oppose the irrational impulses of the mob. In political science , the term is used in
2162-481: A useful example by African anarchists in the late 20th century. Communist movements embraced or dismissed autarky as a goal at different times. In her survey of anarchism in the late 1800s, Voltairine De Cleyre summarized the autarkic goals of early anarchist socialists and communists as "small, independent, self-resourceful, freely-operating communes". In particular, Peter Kropotkin advocated local and regional autarky integrating agriculture and industry, instead of
2256-473: Is a 'coherent system of ideas' that rely on a few basic assumptions about reality that may or may not have any factual basis. Through this system, ideas become coherent, repeated patterns through the subjective ongoing choices that people make. These ideas serve as the seed around which further thought grows. The belief in an ideology can range from passive acceptance up to fervent advocacy. Definitions, such as by Manfred Steger and Paul James , emphasize both
2350-424: Is a broad consensus among economists that protectionism has a negative effect on economic growth and economic welfare, while free trade and the reduction of trade barriers has a positive effect on economic growth and economic stability . Autarky may be a policy of a state or some other type of entity when it seeks to be self-sufficient as a whole, but it also can be limited to a narrow field such as possession of
2444-441: Is conceptually important to the sociology of knowledge , viz. Karl Mannheim , Daniel Bell , and Jürgen Habermas et al. Moreover, Mannheim has developed and progressed from the "total" but "special" Marxist conception of ideology to a "general" and "total" ideological conception acknowledging that all ideology (including Marxism ) resulted from social life, an idea developed by the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu . Slavoj Žižek and
2538-554: Is concerned with the causes, consequences and content of ideology, with humans being dubbed the "ideological animal" by Althusser. Many theories have tried to explain the existence of ideology in human societies. Jost, Ledgerwood, and Hardin (2008) propose that ideologies may function as prepackaged units of interpretation that spread because of basic human motives to understand the world, avoid existential threat , and maintain valued interpersonal relationships . The authors conclude that such motives may lead disproportionately to
2632-523: Is difficult, however, due to cultural relativity in definitions. For example, "what Americans now call conservatism much of the world calls liberalism or neoliberalism "; a conservatism in Finland would be labeled socialism in the United States . Philosopher Michael Oakeshott defines single-issue ideologies as "the formalized abridgment of the supposed sub-stratum of the rational truth contained in
2726-430: Is ecology, which studies the relationships among living things on Earth. Perceptual psychologist James J. Gibson believed that human perception of ecological relationships was the basis of self-awareness and cognition itself. Linguist George Lakoff has proposed a cognitive science of mathematics wherein even the most fundamental ideas of arithmetic would be seen as consequences or products of human perception—which
2820-543: Is itself necessarily evolved within an ecology. Deep ecology and the modern ecology movement (and, to a lesser degree, Green parties ) appear to have adopted ecological sciences as a positive ideology. Some notable economically based ideologies include neoliberalism , monetarism , mercantilism , mixed economy , social Darwinism , communism , laissez-faire economics, and free trade . There are also current theories of safe trade and fair trade that can be seen as ideologies. A large amount of research in psychology
2914-733: Is often associated with Francis Fukuyama 's writings on the end of history . Contrastly, Nienhueser (2011) sees research (in the field of human resource management ) as ongoingly "generating ideology". There are many proposed methods for the classification of political ideologies. Ideologies can identify themselves by their position on the political spectrum (e.g. left , center , or right ). They may also be distinguished by single issues around which they may be built (e.g. civil libertarianism , support or opposition to European integration , legalization of marijuana ). They may also be distinguished by political strategies (e.g. populism , personalism ). The classification of political ideology
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3008-614: Is provided by the same publisher as that of the Oxford English Dictionary , says that autarky is a variant spelling of and pronounced the same as autarchy and that autarchy is another term for autocracy . Early state societies that can be regarded as autarkic include nomadic pastoralism and palace economy , though over time these tend towards becoming less self-sufficient and more interconnected. The late Bronze Age , for example, saw formerly self-sufficient palace economies rely more heavily on trade, which may have been
3102-556: Is reiterated by J. William Fulbright , while a similar form occurs in Eric Hoffer 's The True Believer . The revolution thus becomes established as an ideocracy , though its rise is likely to be checked by a 'political midlife crisis.' Even when the challenging of existing beliefs is encouraged, as in scientific theories, the dominant paradigm or mindset can prevent certain challenges, theories, or experiments from being advanced. A special case of science that has inspired ideology
3196-553: Is too confined to verbal systems. ' Worldview ' is too metaphysical , ' propaganda ' too loaded. Despite or because of its contradictions, 'ideology' still plays a key role in semiotics oriented to social, political life. Authors such as Michael Freeden have also recently incorporated a semantic analysis to the study of ideologies. Sociologists define ideology as "cultural beliefs that justify particular social arrangements, including patterns of inequality". Dominant groups use these sets of cultural beliefs and practices to justify
3290-507: Is ultimately ideological for Althusser are not the subjective beliefs held in the conscious "minds" of human individuals, but rather discourses that produce these beliefs, the material institutions and rituals that individuals take part in without submitting it to conscious examination and so much more critical thinking . The French Marxist theorist Guy Debord , founding member of the Situationist International , argued that when
3384-461: The Black Panther Party moved away from orthodox communist internationalism towards " intercommunalism ", a term coined by Huey P. Newton , "to retain a grasp on the local when the rest of radical thought seemed to be moving global". Intercommunalism drew from left-wing autarkic projects like free medical clinics and breakfast programs, "explicitly articulated as attempts to fill a void left by
3478-697: The Black Plague , initially as a reaction to the impact of the epidemic and later as a way for communes and city states to maintain power against the nobility. There is considerable debate about how autarkic cultures that resisted the spread of early capitalism were. Golden Age pirate communities have been dubbed both heavily autarkic societies where "the marauders...lived in small, self-contained democracies" and as an "anti-autarky" due to their dependence on raiding. While rarer among imperial states, some autarkies did occur during specific time periods. The Ming dynasty , during its earlier, more isolationist period, kept
3572-506: The Bourse de travail , socialist canteens and food assistance. These played a major role in securing workers' loyalty and building those parties into increasingly powerful institutions (especially in Europe) throughout the late 19th and early 20th-centuries. Through these cooperatives, "workers bought Socialist bread and Socialist shoes, drank Socialist beer, arranged for Socialist vacations and obtained
3666-559: The Civil Rights Movement , such as in the case of the Montgomery Bus Boycott . Boycotters set up their own self-sufficient system of cheap or free transit to allow black residents to get to work and avoid using the then-segregated public systems in a successful effort to bring political pressure. Autarkic efforts for food sovereignty also formed part of the civil rights movement. In the late 60s activist Fannie Lou Hamer
3760-573: The Crisis of the Third Century and persisted until the very end of the Western Empire , particularly in the less-Romanised areas of Gallia and Hispania . They were affected by the depredations of the late Roman state, wealthy landowners , and clerics. The invasions, military anarchy, and disorders of the third century provided a chaotic and ongoing degradation of the regional power structure within
3854-528: The Ebro valley . In Hispania , the king of the Suevi , Rechiar (died 456 AD), took up as allies the local bagaudae in ravaging the remaining Roman municipia , a unique alliance between Germanic ruler and rebel peasant. That the depredations of the ruling classes were mostly responsible for the uprising of the bagaudae was not lost on the fifth-century writer of historicised polemic Salvian ; setting himself in
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3948-538: The Late Roman Empire , some rebellions and communities pursued autarky as a reaction both to upheaval and to counter imperial power. A prominent example is the Bacaude , who repeatedly rebelled against the empire and "formed self-governing communities" with their own internal economy and coinage. Medieval communes combined an attempt at overall economic self-sufficiency through the use of common lands and resources with
4042-647: The New Economic Policy . However, while the Soviet government during the latter period encouraged international trade, it also permitted and even encouraged local autarkies in many peasant villages. Sometimes leftist groups clashed over autarkic projects. During the Spanish Civil War , the anarcho-syndicalist CNT and the socialist UGT had created economic cooperatives in the Levante that they claimed were "managing
4136-477: The Reign of Terror , where he read the works of Locke and Étienne Bonnot de Condillac . Hoping to form a secure foundation for the moral and political sciences , Tracy devised the term for a "science of ideas", basing such upon two things: (1) the sensations that people experience as they interact with the material world; and (2) the ideas that form in their minds due to those sensations. Tracy conceived ideology as
4230-613: The Socratic method , though without extending the vocabulary beyond what the general reader already possessed, and without the examples from observation that practical science would require. Taine identifies it not just with Tracy but also with his milieu , and includes Condillac as one of its precursors. Napoleon Bonaparte came to view ideology as a term of abuse, which he often hurled against his liberal foes in Tracy's Institut national . According to Karl Mannheim 's historical reconstruction of
4324-544: The Spanish economy recovered the levels of 1935 launching into the Spanish Miracle . In the latter half of the 20th century economists, especially in wealthier countries, backed the emerging Washington consensus , overwhelmingly endorsing free trade while discouraging autarkic and socialist policies. These economists asserted that protectionism has a negative effect on economic growth and economic welfare while free trade and
4418-445: The antebellum South , the enslaved and free black populations forged self-sufficient economies in an effort to avoid reliance on the larger economy controlled by the planter aristocracy . In eastern North Carolina maroon communities, often based in swampy areas, used a combination of agriculture and fishing to forge a "hidden economy" and secure survival. The relative self-reliance of these maritime African-American populations provided
4512-553: The bagaudae came to the full attention of the central authorities around 284 AD, the re-establishment of the settled social order was swift and severe: the peasant insurgents were crushed in 286 AD by the Caesar Maximian and his subordinate Carausius under the aegis of the Augustus Diocletian . Their leaders are mentioned as Amandus and Aelianus , although E.M. Wightman, in her Gallia Belgica proposes that
4606-610: The bagaudae uprisings of 284–285 AD in the districts around Lugdunum (Lyon) , "simple farmers sought military garb; the plowman imitated the infantryman, the shepherd the cavalryman, the rustic harvester of his own crops the barbarian enemy". In fact they shared several similar characteristics with the Germanic Heruli people. Mamertinus also called them "two-shaped monsters" ( monstrorum biformium ), emphasising that while they were technically Imperial farmers and citizens, they were also marauding rogues who had become foes to
4700-430: The means of production results in some people being able to own more than others. This power disparity contradicts the claim that all share both practical worth and future opportunity equally; for example, the rich can afford better legal representation, which practically privileges them before the law. Althusser proffered the concept of the ideological state apparatus to explain his theory of ideology. His first thesis
4794-563: The populist backlash to the exploitations of free trade in the late 19th-century and in many early utopian socialist movements. Mutual aid societies like the Grange and Sovereigns of Industry attempted to set up self-sufficient economies (with varying degrees of success) in an effort to be less dependent on what they saw as an exploitative economic system and to generate more power to push for reforms. Early socialist movements used these autarkic efforts to build their base with institutions like
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#17330927690344888-550: The Empire. The phenomenon recurred in the mid-fourth century in the reign of Constantius , in conjunction with an invasion of the Alemanni . Although Imperial control was re-established by the Frankish general Silvanus , his subsequent betrayal by court rivals forced him into rebellion and his work was undone. In around 360 AD the historian Aurelius Victor is the sole writer to note
4982-513: The Middle East, people prefer traditional beliefs and are less tolerant of liberal values. Protestant Europe , at the other extreme, adheres more to secular beliefs and liberal values. Alone among high-income countries, the United States is exceptional in its adherence to traditional beliefs, in this case Christianity. In political science , a political ideology is a certain ethical set of ideals , principles , doctrines , myths , or symbols of
5076-631: The Spectacle . The American philosopher Eric Hoffer identified several elements that unify followers of a particular ideology: Ronald Inglehart of the University of Michigan is author of the World Values Survey , which, since 1980, has mapped social attitudes in 100 countries representing 90% of global population. Results indicate that where people live is likely to closely correlate with their ideological beliefs. In much of Africa, South Asia and
5170-474: The State is based on food supply. Only on the basis of a certain degree of autarky can the bolos enter into a network of exchange without being exploited". Widmer theorized that through "tactical autarky" such communes would be able to prevent the return of oppressive structures and a money economy. Autarkic efforts to counter the forcible privatization of public resources and maintain local self-sufficiency also formed
5264-532: The United States, including connections with major companies like IBM and Coca-Cola . Economic self-sufficiency was pursued as a goal by some members of the Non-Aligned Movement , such as India under Jawaharlal Nehru and Tanzania , under the ideology of Ujamaa and Swadeshi . That was partly an effort to escape the economic domination of both the United States and the Soviet Union while modernizing
5358-467: The adoption of system-justifying worldviews . Psychologists generally agree that personality traits , individual difference variables, needs, and ideological beliefs seem to have something in common. Just-world theory posits that people want to believe in a fair world for a sense of control and security and generate ideologies in order to maintain this belief, for example by justifiying inequality or unfortunate events. A critique of just world theory as
5452-494: The attacks of bagaudae in the peripheries of the larger towns and walled cities. In the fifth century Bagaudae are noted initially in the Loire valley and Brittany , circa 409–417 AD, fighting various armies sent against them by the last seriously effective Western Roman general, Flavius Aëtius . Aetius used federates such as the Alans under their king Goar to try and suppress
5546-481: The basis for a strongly abolitionist political culture that made increasingly radical demands after the start of the Civil War . Due to tense relations with some Union commanders and political factions during and after that war, these communities "focused their organizing efforts on developing their own institutions, their own sense of self-reliance, and their own political strength". Autarkic ambitions can also be seen in
5640-504: The behest of large landowners, destroying roughly 119 labor chambers, 107 cooperatives and 83 peasant offices that year alone. Nazi Germany under economics minister Hjalmar Schacht , and later Walther Funk , still pursued major international trade, albeit under a different system, to escape the terms of the Treaty of Versailles , satisfy business elites and prepare for war. The regime would continue to conduct trade, including with countries like
5734-434: The best economic system (e.g. capitalism , socialism , etc.). Sometimes the same word is used to identify both an ideology and one of its main ideas. For instance, socialism may refer to an economic system, or it may refer to an ideology that supports that economic system. Post 1991, many commentators claim that we are living in a post-ideological age, in which redemptive, all-encompassing ideologies have failed. This view
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#17330927690345828-587: The commitment to an existing one. Zizek calls this "a post-modernist trap". Peter Sloterdijk advanced the same idea already in 1988. Studies have shown that political ideology is somewhat genetically heritable . When a political ideology becomes a dominantly pervasive component within a government, one can speak of an ideocracy . Different forms of government use ideology in various ways, not always restricted to politics and society. Certain ideas and schools of thought become favored, or rejected, over others, depending on their compatibility with or use for
5922-427: The commodity becomes the "essential category" of society, i.e. when the process of commodification has been consummated to its fullest extent, the image of society propagated by the commodity (as it describes all of life as constituted by notions and objects deriving their value only as commodities tradeable in terms of exchange value ), colonizes all of life and reduces society to a mere representation, The Society of
6016-417: The concept of autarky represents independence from anything external, including independence from personal relationships, so as to immune one from vagaries of fortune. The Stoic sage is autarkic by being dependent only on his own virtue . In Epicureanism the concept of autarky represents having the fewest possible requirements for living a life of pleasure, free of pain ( aponia ). Lexico , whose content
6110-519: The concept's history from black nationalism , Ujamaa , African-American socialism and the civil rights movement , is Cooperation Jackson , a movement aimed at creating a self-sufficient black working class economy in Jackson, Mississippi . The movement has aimed to secure land and build self-sufficient cooperatives and workplaces "to democratically transform the political economy of the city" and push back against gentrification. Cooperation Jackson also saw
6204-459: The countries' infrastructure. In the case of Francoist Spain , it was both the effect of international sanctions after the Spanish Civil War (1939) and the Second World War and the totalitarian nationalist ideology of Falange . Post-war famine and misery lasted longer than in war-ravaged Europe. It was not until the capitalist reforms of 1950s with the approach to the United States that
6298-437: The earlier Frankfurt School added to the "general theory" of ideology a psychoanalytic insight that ideologies do not include only conscious but also unconscious ideas. French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser proposed that ideology is "the imagined existence (or idea) of things as it relates to the real conditions of existence" and makes use of a lacunar discourse. A number of propositions, which are never untrue, suggest
6392-527: The economic life of the region independent of the government". But communist factions responded by cracking down on these cooperatives in an attempt to place economic control back in the hands of the central government. Some right-wing totalitarian governments have claimed autarky as a goal, developing national industry and imposing high tariffs but have crushed other autarkic movements and often engaged in extensive outside economic activity. In 1921, Italian fascists attacked existing left-wing autarkic projects at
6486-494: The economic relationships, reflecting and perpetuating the interests of the dominant class. In the Marxist base and superstructure model of society, base denotes the relations of production and modes of production , and superstructure denotes the dominant ideology (i.e. religious, legal, political systems). The economic base of production determines the political superstructure of a society. Ruling class-interests determine
6580-569: The face of its isolation. However, even North Korea has extensive trade with Russia , China , Syria , Iran , Vietnam , India and many countries in Europe and Africa. North Korea had to import food during a widespread famine in the 1990s . Some would consider a modern example at a societal level is Rojava , the autonomous northern region of Syria . Despite a key alliance with the United States, supporters consider them largely cut off from international trade, facing multiple enemies, and striving for
6674-433: The failure of the federal government to provide resources as basic as food to black communities". In Murray Bookchin 's Communalist ideal, he wrote that in a more liberated future "every community would approximate local or regional autarky". The influential 1983 anarchist book bolo'bolo , by Hans Widmer , advocated the use of autarky among its utopian anti-capitalist communes (known as bolos ), asserting "the power of
6768-416: The family, education, and religion. As societies changed throughout history, so did the ideologies that justified systems of inequality. Sociological examples of ideologies include racism , sexism , heterosexism , ableism , and ethnocentrism . Bagaudae Bagaudae (also spelled bacaudae ) were groups of peasant insurgents in the western parts of the later Roman Empire , who arose during
6862-607: The far-right with measures ranging from economic pressure to outright violence. After World War II, Autonomist efforts in Europe embraced local autarkic projects in an effort to craft anti-authoritarian left-wing spaces, especially influencing the social center and squatters ' rights movements. Such efforts remain a common feature of Autonomist and anarchist movements on the continent today. The Micropolis social centre in Greece, for example, has gyms, restaurants, bars, meeting space and free distribution of food and resources. Around 1970,
6956-643: The ideology that they are currently aware of. System justification theory posits that people tend to defend existing society, even at times against their interest, which in turn causes people to create ideological explanations to justify the status quo. Jost, Fitzimmons and Kay argue that the motivation to protect a preexisting system is due to a desire for cognitive consistency (being able to think in similar ways over time), reducing uncertainty and reducing effort, illusion of control and fear of equality. According to system justification theory, ideologies reflect ( unconscious ) motivational processes , as opposed to
7050-472: The international division of labor. His work repeatedly held up communities "that needed neither aid or protection from without" as a more resilient model. Some socialist communities like Charles Fourier 's phalansteries strove for self-sufficiency. The early USSR in the Russian Civil War strove for a self-sufficient economy with war communism , but later pursued international trade vigorously under
7144-431: The issue of patterning and contingent claims to truth. They wrote: "Ideologies are patterned clusters of normatively imbued ideas and concepts, including particular representations of power relations. These conceptual maps help people navigate the complexity of their political universe and carry claims to social truth." Studies of the concept of ideology itself (rather than specific ideologies) have been carried out under
7238-406: The most completely assembled documentation and identifies the bagaudae as impoverished local free peasants, reinforced by brigands, runaway slaves and deserters from the legions, who were trying to resist the ruthless labor exploitation of the late Roman proto-feudal colonus manorial and military systems, and all manner of punitive laws and levies in the marginal areas of the Empire . After
7332-587: The name of systematic ideology in the works of George Walford and Harold Walsby, who attempt to explore the relationships between ideology and social systems . David W. Minar describes six different ways the word ideology has been used: For Willard A. Mullins, an ideology should be contrasted with the related (but different) issues of utopia and historical myth . An ideology is composed of four basic characteristics: Terry Eagleton outlines (more or less in no particular order) some definitions of ideology: German philosopher Christian Duncker called for
7426-637: The poor to join the bagaudae and flee for shelter to the barbarian invaders (v. 5 and 6). The reputation of the bagaudae has varied with the uses made of them in historicised narratives of the Late Roman Empire and the Middle Ages. There has been some speculation that theirs was a Christian revolt, but the sparsity of information in the texts gives that little substance although there may well have been many Christians among them. In general, they seem to have been equal parts of brigands and insurgents. In
7520-668: The reduction of trade barriers has a positive effect on economic growth and economic stability. But economists from many developing nations, or who came from Marxian traditions, endorsed more autarkic ideas including Import Substitution Industrialization and Dependency theory The work of Celso Furtado , Raul Prebisch and Samir Amin , especially Amin's semi-autarkic "autocentric" policies, proved influential in efforts by many countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa to stave off economic domination by developing more self-sufficient economies. Small-scale autarkies were sometimes used by
7614-568: The reigning social order. In The Anatomy of Revolution , Crane Brinton said that new ideology spreads when there is discontent with an old regime. The may be repeated during revolutions itself; extremists such as Vladimir Lenin and Robespierre may thus overcome more moderate revolutionaries. This stage is soon followed by Thermidor , a reining back of revolutionary enthusiasm under pragmatists like Napoleon and Joseph Stalin , who bring " normalcy and equilibrium". Brinton's sequence ("men of ideas> fanatics >practical men of action")
7708-603: The second half of the 19th century, interest in the bagaudae revived, resonating with contemporary social unrest . The French historian Jean Trithemié was famous for a nationalist view of the "Bagaudae" by arguing that they were an expression of national identity among the Gallic peasants, who sought to overthrow oppressive Roman rule and realize the eternal "French" values of liberty, equality and brotherhood . E. A. Thompson in Past and Present (1952) portrayed this rural discontent within
7802-442: The shifts in the meaning of ideology , the modern meaning of the word was born when Napoleon used it to describe his opponents as "the ideologues". Tracy's major book, The Elements of Ideology , was soon translated into the major languages of Europe. In the century following Tracy, the term ideology moved back and forth between positive and negative connotations. During this next generation, when post-Napoleonic governments adopted
7896-405: The superstructure and the nature of the justifying ideology—actions feasible because the ruling class control the means of production . For example, in a feudal mode of production , religious ideology is the most prominent aspect of the superstructure, while in capitalist formations, ideologies such as liberalism and social democracy dominate. Hence the great importance of ideology justifies
7990-401: The systems of inequality that maintain their group's social power over non-dominant groups. Ideologies use a society's symbol system to organize social relations in a hierarchy , with some social identities being superior to other social identities, which are considered inferior. The dominant ideology in a society is passed along through the society's major social institutions, such as the media,
8084-613: The terroristic phase of the revolution (during the Napoleonic regime as part of the Napoleonic Wars ) by trying to work out a rational system of ideas to oppose the irrational mob impulses that had nearly destroyed him. A subsequent early source for the near-original meaning of ideology is Hippolyte Taine 's work on the Ancien Régime , Origins of Contemporary France I. He describes ideology as rather like teaching philosophy via
8178-499: The tradition". Moreover, Charles Blattberg offers an account that distinguishes political ideologies from political philosophies . Slavoj Žižek argues how the very notion of post-ideology can enable the deepest, blindest form of ideology. A sort of false consciousness or false cynicism, engaged in for the purpose of lending one's point of view the respect of being objective, pretending neutral cynicism, without truly being so. Rather than help avoiding ideology, this lapse only deepens
8272-455: The treatise De gubernatione Dei the task of proving God's constant guidance, he declares in book iii that the misery of the Roman world is all due to the neglect of God's commandments and the terrible sins of every class of society. It is not merely that slaves and servants are thieves and runaways, wine-bibbers and gluttons – the rich are much worse (iv. 3); it is their harshness and greed that drive
8366-400: The two belonged to the local Gallo-Roman landowning class who then became " tyrants " and most likely rebelled against the grinding taxation and garnishing of their lands, harvests, and manpower by the predatory agents of the late Roman state (see frumentarii , publicani ). The Panegyric of Maximian , dating to 289 AD and attributed to Claudius Mamertinus , relates that during
8460-543: The use of mutual defense pacts, neighborhood assemblies and organized militias to preserve local autonomy against the depredations of the local nobility. Many of these communes later became trading powers such as the Hanseatic League . In some cases, communal village economies maintained their own debt system as part of a self-sufficient economy and to avoid reliance on possibly hostile aristocratic or business interests. The trend toward "local self-sufficiency" increased after
8554-488: The view that political convictions always reflect independent and unbiased thinking. According to semiotician Bob Hodge : [Ideology] identifies a unitary object that incorporates complex sets of meanings with the social agents and processes that produced them. No other term captures this object as well as 'ideology'. Foucault 's ' episteme ' is too narrow and abstract, not social enough. His 'discourse', popular because it covers some of ideology's terrain with less baggage,
8648-438: Was " ideology has no history ": while individual ideolog ies have histories, interleaved with the general class struggle of society, the general form of ideology is external to history. For Althusser, beliefs and ideas are the products of social practices, not the reverse. His thesis that " ideas are material " is illustrated by the "scandalous advice" of Pascal toward unbelievers: "Kneel and pray, and then you will believe." What
8742-431: Was concerned about the effects of isolationist autarky in respect to the closing off of a community and therefore always stressed the need for a balance between localism and globalism. An example of a small, but true autarky is North Sentinel Island , whose native inhabitants refuse all contact with outsiders and live completely self-sufficient lives. An example of a contemporary effort at localized autarky, incorporating
8836-528: Was one of the founders of the Freedom Farms Cooperative , an effort to redistribute economic power and build self-sufficiency in Black communities. "When you've got 400 quarts of greens and gumbo soup canned for the winter, nobody can push you around or tell you what to say or do," Hamer summarized as the rationale for the cooperative. The efforts were extensively targeted by segregationist authorities and
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