Ideology has been approached in a negative manner for a long time, and in recent years has been a relatively marginalized field of research in political and social studies. This paper argues that the complex – constructive as well as distortive, narrowing – nature of ideologies needs to be recognized if we want to understand the current challenges of popu- lism and illiberalism. A broader argument is that ideologies are best understood in relation to the backcloth of a more abstract, trans-ideological cultural dimension, that of the relatively open-ended horizon of social imaginaries. Contemporary ideological critiques of liberal and constitutional democracy maybe understood as a reaction to a relatively robustly institution- alized imaginary of liberal-constitutional democracy. The populist counterreaction to liberal legalism, constitutional democracy and the human rights imaginary ought hence to be un- derstood as an ideological phenomenon in its own right, and its success may even indicate an unsettling of the dominant imaginary and a potential shift (or even return) towards an imagi- nary dominated by nationalism and sovereignism. The paper hence attempts to contribute to existing debates in two ways: the consideration of ideology in relation to social imaginaries and a claim towards the self-standing ideological nature of contemporary populism.

paul blokker (2022). Ideologia, immaginazione e immaginario sociale. QUADERNI DI TEORIA SOCIALE, 2, 63-83 [10.57611/qts.v1i2.178].

Ideologia, immaginazione e immaginario sociale

paul blokker
2022

Abstract

Ideology has been approached in a negative manner for a long time, and in recent years has been a relatively marginalized field of research in political and social studies. This paper argues that the complex – constructive as well as distortive, narrowing – nature of ideologies needs to be recognized if we want to understand the current challenges of popu- lism and illiberalism. A broader argument is that ideologies are best understood in relation to the backcloth of a more abstract, trans-ideological cultural dimension, that of the relatively open-ended horizon of social imaginaries. Contemporary ideological critiques of liberal and constitutional democracy maybe understood as a reaction to a relatively robustly institution- alized imaginary of liberal-constitutional democracy. The populist counterreaction to liberal legalism, constitutional democracy and the human rights imaginary ought hence to be un- derstood as an ideological phenomenon in its own right, and its success may even indicate an unsettling of the dominant imaginary and a potential shift (or even return) towards an imagi- nary dominated by nationalism and sovereignism. The paper hence attempts to contribute to existing debates in two ways: the consideration of ideology in relation to social imaginaries and a claim towards the self-standing ideological nature of contemporary populism.
2022
paul blokker (2022). Ideologia, immaginazione e immaginario sociale. QUADERNI DI TEORIA SOCIALE, 2, 63-83 [10.57611/qts.v1i2.178].
paul blokker
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/903759
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