Ideas and Knowledge as Socially Constructed

Ideas and Knowledge as Socially Constructed

Based on the tenets of the theory of social constructionism, people develop ideas and knowledge that exists in the world in a given social context. Therefore, much of what people perceive as reality premised on ideas and knowledge are anchored on shared assumptions that are modelled in society. The aspects of knowledge and the dominant ideas in society are the products of social constructs. They are bound to change as society changes as most things that people believe are the objective reality and well-furnished knowledge are socially constructed and are bound to some changes in society. Therefore, all is thought to as a dominant idea or knowledge that has been constructed and accepted in society.

Ideology and the Ruling Class

The topic highlights an essential aspect that all the ideologies in society are the formulation of the ruling class. According to Marx and Engel, the dominant ideologies in the society that most people relate to are the products of the material relations, the ruling class that holds money and shapes up whatever they regard as acceptable ideology in the society. Since the ruling class wields power and money, they exert their ideas in a manner that they are associated with the existence of all in the society, prompting people to hold them as core ideologies in society..

Ideological Hegemony &Liberalism

The concept of ideological hegemony arises when individuals from the ruling class assume the responsibility of reinforcing power structures and other societal ideologies without coercion, even if these societal structures are repressive and pose great harm to the individuals who could not access power. Thus ideological hegemony delves on the embedding relations between domination and exploitation of the perceived dominant societal ideologies. On the other hand, to address the conflicts arising from ideological hegemony, liberalism is immensely recommended. Liberalism, as a political doctrine, takes into consideration the need for enhancing and protecting the freedom of individuals to address the central problems in politics headed by the ruling class. Thus, according to liberalism, governments are supposed to protect individuals from others, but there are instances where governments could be a threat to liberty through their political structures in place.

Noam Chomsky: Manufacturing Consent

In the work, Noam Chomsky demonstrates that contrary to the outward image that the media houses portray, there are multiple underlying agenda and operations of the media that are premised on the need to take care of the interests of the media owners and the ruling owners and stakeholders. Consequently, the media houses have formulated a modus operandi that is anchored on propaganda to defend the social, economic, and political agendas of the ruling class. Through the propaganda, the media houses champion the interest of the ruling class and effectively dominate the state, society, and influence the global world order. Thus, the media houses have mechanisms that are premised on the need to champion the interest of the owners, maintain their profitability, and maintain the social order. At the same time, maintain an image of a champion of the interests of the followers overtly.

Ideas, Ideologies, and the State

In the topic, ideas set of beliefs that one holds regarding essential aspects in society ranging from governance and how individuals are supposed to relate to each other in the society. Ideologies arise from one’s ideas that have been indoctrinated in mainstream society. The ruling elites, in most cases, play an instrumental role in implementing these ideologies in mainstream society. The state implements the ideologies and, to a great extent, defines the kind of society, either democratic or aristocratic. Thus, ideas, ideologies are intertwined and immensely dependent on each other.

Viewing Society Scientifically: Truth and Power

In a bid to redefine essential aspects of power in society Michel Foucault, a postmodernist, proposed that society should be seen from a scientific point of view. In this regard, power in society is constituted through acceptable forms of knowledge, truth, and scientific understanding. Thus, truth is a thing of the world that is produced as a result of various forms of constraint, and every society has its regime of truth as truth induces the regular effects of power. Truth manifests through the regimes of truth that emanates from the scientific institutions and discourse and are reinforced regularly by the existing education platforms.