The culture of a startup is a reflection of its economic context: A startup receives VC funding, has few employees to start with and must optimize growth in order to be successful. It&#x27;s also a reflection of the power relationship of the founders and the other employees: the culture of a startup optimizes the values and preferred organizational structure of the founders. Startup culture does not cause these things, it is the reification of these relationships. It is symbolic.<p>It is an important characteristic of ideology that it is symbolic: it means that multiple people can interpret it in different ways. Which interpretations are &quot;correct&quot;? The ones that conform to the underlying power structure. The power structure punishes &quot;misinterpretations&quot; and rewards &quot;correct&quot; interpretations.<p>Just as different start-ups have different ideologies because they have different power structures and economic relations, Islam in the Middle East is not a coherent political ideology. The Islam of Iran reflects the organization of its government, <i>not</i> the other way around. The Islam of Saudi Arabia reflects the organization of its government, <i>not</i> the other way around.<p>The Islam of Da&#x27;esh, which is considered heterodox by literally <i>every other sect of Islam</i>, is a reflection of its power structures.<p>The same signs and ideas reflect different physical realities. What drives the development of signs and ideas? The physical reality. Only the material can propagate ideology, and only the material that propagates itself succeeds in the long-run.<p>What use is it to say that &quot;Islam is a political religious ideology for most of the Middle East&quot;? What analytic and predictive power does this statement have?