ABSTRACT
This chapter takes a glimpse into the future of ideology and its role in transforming society in an age dominated by a sense of rupture and uncertainty. The chapter is divided into three parts. The first two correspond to two major ways that ideology can be considered, namely as either a generic or a specific phenomenon. The first part is concerned with the prospects for ideology per se; it briefly reviews the pertinent debate, contrasting claims to the effect that ideology is a passing phenomenon contingent on a set of transient social circumstances with positions assuming inevitability and eternity of ideology. I identify epistemological flaws in the ‘end of ideology’ thesis while also bringing attention to its function of naturalizing and legitimizing the existing social order. The second part of the chapter then revolves around the question of relevance of specific established ideological configurations and factors affecting their continuing salience or disruption. Finally, the third part brings the two threads together; it probes the role of ideas in facilitating progressive politics and tentatively posits some broad criteria that a progressive ideology would likely need to meet to sustain a transformative agenda.
