What is Ideology?
An '''ideology''' is a collection of [[idea]]s or [[belief]]s shared by a group of [[person|people]]. It may be a connected set of ideas, or a style of thought, or a world-view. It was coined by a French philosopher, Destutt de Tracy in 1801/5.<ref>Daniel Bell, in Bullock A. & Trombley S. 1999. ''The new Fontana dictionary of modern thought''. London: HarperCollins, p414. ISBN 0-00-255871-8</ref> There are two main types of ideologies: ''political ideologies'', and ''epistemological ideologies''. Political ideologies are sets of [[ethics|ethical]] [[idea]]s about how a [[country]] should be run. Epistemological ideologies are sets of ideas about the [[philosophy]], the [[Universe]], and how people should make decisions. There are many different types of ideologies. [[Communism]], [[socialism]], and [[capitalism]] are political/[[economics|economical]] ideologies. Many [[political party|political parties]] base their political action and program on an ideology. In [[social studies]], a political ideology is a certain [[Ethics|ethical]] set of [[Value (personal and cultural)|values]], principles, [[doctrine]]s, [[mythology|myth]]s, or [[symbol]]s of a [[trend|social movement]], [[institution]], or [[social class|class]] which explains how society should work. It offers a political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order. A political ideology largely concerns itself with how to allocate [[power (sociology)|power]] and to what ends it should be used. Some parties follow a certain ideology very closely, while others may take broad inspiration from a group of related ideologies without specifically embracing any one of them. Political ideologies have two dimensions: # ''Goals'': how society should work (or be arranged). # ''Methods'': the most appropriate ways to achieve the ideal arrangement. An ideology is a collection of ideas. Typically, each ideology contains certain ideas on what it considers to be the best [[form of government]] (e.g. [[democracy]], [[theocracy]], etc.), and the best [[economic