ABSTRACT

Robert Putnam describes an ideology as a lifeguiding system of beliefs, values and goals affecting political style and action.1 In this sense, individuals use ideologies to help them understand and explain the world. They provide a way for human beings to synthesise the mass of information around them into something more logical and meaningful; giving them a ‘world view’. Catholicism, Islam, socialism, liberalism and anarchism, for example, all serve as guides to their disciples. They provide interpretations of history, and explanations of present events, as well as supplying an accompanying set of values to which followers can adhere.