THE IDEOLOGIES OF MODERN POLITICS

It is a platitude that a political ideology is an organized set of ethical beliefs that authorize the political commitment of a group of people. This article addresses the question: how is the distinctive ideologic of such an organization of ethical ideas related to the political decisions of adherents? The suggestion made is that the distinctive psychological reaction of a group of people to economic and social change plays an important part in making a particular form of ideologic formative of their view of the future. The scope of the article is not restricted to English reactions to the advent of industrial modernity, but the universality of its argument, as to the persuasive function of the ideologies investigated, is primarily illustrated by examples drawn from the works of English ideologues.