What Are Ideological drivers?
Ideology
A structured set of ideas, values, and beliefs that explains how society should work and guides political, economic, and social decisions.
Ideological Driver
A belief system or value framework (for example religion, political ideas, or economic assumptions) that influences decisions, institutions, and behaviour in a society.
- Ideologies help explain why social groups often agree on what is "normal," "fair," or "acceptable," and why different societies make different choices about laws, culture, and economic policy.
- An ideological driver is any shared set of beliefs, values, and assumptions that strongly shapes how people think and act as a group.
How Do Ideologies Provide Shared Values That Hold Groups Together?
Normative Ethics
A branch of philosophy that examines values and principles about what people ought to do, including ideas of right and wrong and what a good society should be.
- People form social groups partly because shared values reduce conflict and make cooperation easier.
- A society needs members to participate "decently" (meaning reliably and predictably), and one way it achieves this is by agreeing on standards for behaviour.
- These standards show up as:
- Laws (formal rules with penalties)
- Norms (informal expectations about behaviour)
- Customs and traditions (repeated practices that signal belonging)
- The important point is that ideologies are not just personal opinions.
- They become powerful when they are shared and embedded into institutions like schools, courts, workplaces, and media.
- When a society argues about what is "right," it is often arguing about competing ideologies, even if people do not use that word.
Why Do Religion And Tradition Often Shape Laws And Social Norms?
- For centuries, religions have been closely linked to how countries are governed.
- In some places, religion still directly influences the legal system through a state religion or religious law.
- In other places, the legal system is secular, but may still reflect religious values that shaped it historically.
- In both cases, religion can be an ideological driver because it supplies:
- A moral vocabulary (good, evil, duty, virtue)
- A sense of authority (divine command, sacred texts, religious leaders)
- Group identity (shared rituals, belonging, community expectations)
- Laws, whether religious or secular, set the "norms" for the social group by making it clear what conduct will and will not be tolerated.
- This shows how ideology becomes practical: it turns values into behaviour standards.
- A society influenced by religious tradition might see certain actions (for example gambling, interest on loans, or alcohol use) not only as personal choices but as moral issues that require public rules.
- A more secular society might treat the same actions primarily as questions of public harm and individual freedom.
- Do not assume that "religious" automatically means "unfair" or that "secular" automatically means "free."
- Both kinds of systems can protect rights, restrict rights, or do both, depending on the ideology behind them.
How Do Culture And Identity Drive Belonging And Change Through Cultural Diffusion?
Culture
Shared ideas, beliefs, values, customs, and ways of life.
Cultural diffusion
Cultural diffusion is the process through which cultural traits, such as beliefs, norms, practices, ideas, technologies, and items are spread from one place, society or group to another.
- Culture becomes an ideological driver when it answers questions like:
- Who are "we"?
- What behaviour shows respect?
- What is shameful or honourable?
- What does success look like?
- In a globalized world, culture is also influenced by cultural diffusion, the spread of cultural ideas and practices from one place to another.
- This can lead to arguments about whether culture is becoming more homogenized (more similar everywhere) or more diversified (more varied due to increased choice and mixing).
- Think of culture like a language.
- It shapes how you interpret meaning, but it also changes when it meets other languages, borrowing words and expressions.
How Do Economic Ideologies Explain How Societies Decide What To Produce?
Profit Maximizer
A firm that aims to produce and sell in a way that increases profit, often assumed in economic models to predict supply decisions.
- Economic decisions are not only technical, they are ideological.
- Even the models economists use contain assumptions about what motivates people.
- A key example is the common assumption that firms are profit-maximizers, meaning firms aim to increase profit as their main objective.
- This assumption makes economic models simpler and helps predict behaviour, but it also reflects an ideological view of what businesses are for.
Market thinking: self-regulating prices and the invisible hand
- A major economic ideology is the belief that markets can be self-regulating, where supply and demand interact to set prices without needing constant control.
- This way of thinking is often associated with Adam Smith and the idea that individuals pursuing their own goals can, under certain conditions, lead to outcomes that benefit society.
- This ideology tends to support:
- Competitive markets
- Limited regulation (in some areas)
- The idea that price signals coordinate production and consumption
- But even within this tradition there is room for government intervention when markets fail or when outcomes conflict with social goals.
- Economic ideologies are rarely "pure."
- Many real economies combine market mechanisms with government rules, taxes, and welfare systems.
How ideology shapes supply and demand reasoning
- When economists explain shifts in demand, they often point to factors such as changes in income, tastes and popularity, substitutes and complements, and population expectations.
- For supply, common determinants include natural conditions, input costs, technology, and taxes or subsidies.
- These factors matter because they change incentives and production costs.
- What makes this ideological is the deeper question: which outcomes should society prioritize?
- Low prices for consumers?
- High wages and job security for workers?
- High profits to encourage innovation?
- Environmental sustainability?
- Different ideologies answer these differently, then influence policy choices.
- When analyzing an economic issue in Individuals and Societies, separate:
- (1) the model explanation (what shifts demand/supply) from (2) the ideological debate (what outcomes matter most, and why).
How Do Political Ideologies Compete To Define Fairness And The Role Of The State?
- Political ideology is a major driver of how societies distribute power and resources.
- Common political ideologies include liberalism, conservatism, socialism, and others, but in practice many political systems blend elements.
- Although labels vary by country, political ideologies often differ on:
- The balance between individual freedom and collective responsibility
- How much the state should intervene in markets and social life
- What equality should mean (equal opportunity vs equal outcomes)
Universal Basic Income As An Ideological Debate
- A clear illustration of ideological drivers is the debate over universal basic income (UBI), a guaranteed minimum payment to everyone.
- Supporters may argue UBI:
- Protects people from unemployment due to automation
- Gives low-income earners more security
- Allows workers time to retrain or search for jobs
- Opponents may argue UBI:
- Is too expensive or requires high taxes
- Reduces incentives to work
- Should be replaced by targeted support instead
- Behind these arguments are ideological assumptions about:
- What people deserve from society
- Whether welfare should be universal or conditional
- Whether work is mainly a necessity, a moral duty, or a path to meaning
- A source that emphasizes "traditional virtue" and criticizes love of money frames the future of work as a moral issue, not just an economic one.
- That reflects an ideological driver: the belief that society should value "ends above means" and prefer the "good" to the merely "useful."
How Do Ideological Drivers Become Visible Through Institutions And Everyday Situations?
- You can often spot ideological drivers not in abstract theories, but in everyday conflicts and decisions, such as responses to vandalism, rude behaviour in public spaces, or jealousy about success.
- People react based on underlying values such as:
- Respect for property and community
- Beliefs about politeness and personal space
- Ideas about fairness, merit, and envy
- These values come from multiple sources at once, including family, religion, media, peer groups, and laws.
- Name two ideological drivers that influence your community (for example religion, national identity, political beliefs, economic assumptions).
- For each one, identify one law or norm it supports.
- Where do you think that driver comes from, and how might cultural diffusion be changing it?
How Can You Evaluate Ideological Claims Through Critical Source Analysis?
- Because ideology shapes what people argue for, it also shapes the sources you encounter (speeches, articles, statistics, images).
- A strong Individuals and Societies response does not just repeat a viewpoint, it evaluates it.
- When analyzing a source about an ideological issue (for example UBI), consider:
- Origin: Who created it, and what background might influence their view?
- Purpose: What outcome do they want, and who is the audience?
- Values: What makes it useful evidence (insight, expertise, lived experience)?
- Limitations: What might it leave out, exaggerate, or assume?
- If two sources disagree, do not rush to pick a winner.
- First identify the different ideological assumptions they start from, then judge how well each uses evidence.
- What is an ideological driver?
- Name three ways shared standards for behavior appear in a society.
- Give one reason religion can function as an ideological driver.
- What is cultural diffusion?
- Name the four critical source analysis checks: origin, purpose, values, and limitations