SOCY482

This class introduces students to the Sociology of Ideology. It explains the relationship between social conditions and ideology. The class begins by defining such key concepts as ideas, beliefs, perceptions, values, attitudes, ideology, discourse, and other related concepts. Then, it discusses the variable forms of ideologies: political versus social, secular versus religious, moderate versus extremist, and totalitarian versus non-totalitarian ideologies. Next, given that the function of ideology revolves on the notion of thought process - that is, when we think, we employ ideas to represent the object of our thought or whatever we think about -- the key question is how ideas represent the object of one's thought. To answer this question, the class presents and critically evaluates various theories of ideologies in the classical sociological tradition - Marx, Durkheim, and Weber - and recent development in these theories. Finally, the class discusses different religious, secular, democratic, and totalitarian ideologies.