ABSTRACT
Ideology refers to a way of thinking about the world that emerges from and reinforces a specific social order. The concept of ideology helps explain the relative stability of societies structured by such systems of domination and provides options for thinking about the possibilities of social change. The evolution of the concept has not followed a straight line or even a circuitous path. It is better to think of its history as a vast river delta with multiple converging and diverging streams of development. The result is a concept that has evolved within different intellectual traditions and acquired many different shades of meaning. To examine ideology is to examine how the ideas, assumptions, and logics through which we make sense of reality and live in the world help justify and reproduce systems like capitalism, patriarchy, heteronormativity, ableism, or white supremacy.
