ABSTRACT

The term ideology has a complex history and is presently used in a large variety of different ways.1 If we try to identify what is common to these uses, we may say that the term is applied to sets of beliefs, or concepts, or theories, and is normally derogatory or pejorative. In particular, in the social sciences, to refer to a theory as ideological involves the claim that that theory is in some way distorted. It fails to meet appropriate criteria of knowledge or validity, and is to that extent objectionable or mistaken.