Ideology - Teun A. van Dijk

1 Ideology A Multidisciplinary Approach Teun A. van Dijk 1 S AGE Publications London Thousand Oaks New Delhi Teun A. van Dijk 1998 First published 1998 Ah rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the Publishers. SAGE Publications Ltd 6 Bonhill Street London EC2A 4PU SAGE Publications Inc 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd 32, M-Block Market Greater Kailash I New Delhi 110 048 British Library Cataloguing in Publkation data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

2 ISBN 0 7619 5654 9 ISBN 0 7619 5655 7 (pbk) Library of Congress catalog record available Typeset by Photoprint, Torquay Printed in Great Britain by The Cromwell Press, Trowbridge, Wiltshire Contents Preface vii 1 Introduction Part I: Cognition 2 Ideas and beliefs 15 3 Social beliefs 28 4 Structures and strategies 53 5 Structures of ideologies 65 6 Values 74 7 Mental models 78 8 Consistency 90 9 Consciousness 96 10 Common sense 102 11 Knowledge and truth 108 12 Identity 118 13 Social cognition 126 Part II: Society 14 Ideology and society 135 15 Groups 140 16 Group relations 161 17 Elites 172 18 Dominant ideologies ?

3 179 19 Institutions 186 Part Discourse 20 The relevance of discourse 191 21 Discourse structures 200 22 Context 211 23 Reproduction 228 24 From cognition to discourse 235 25 Persuasion 243 26 Legitimation 255 27 Ideological discourse structures 263 vi Contents 28 The Ideology and discourse of modern racism 277 29 Conclusions 313 Notes 321 References 341 Index 366 Preface Most scholars have a number of dream projects in mind: topics they have always wanted to investigate and write about, but for various reasons never did.

4 I have many such unrealized acadernic dreams. For many years, an innovative study on the relations between Ideology and discourse has been one of them. Ideology has been dealt with in literally thousands of books and articles, but (as many other authors also conclude) its defmition is as elusive and confused as ever. So, to write a book that would specifically deal with the complex relations between Ideology and discourse is more than a challenge: it is pure hubris, especially since such a book should of course begin with a proper theory of Ideology .

5 How could I possibly contribute anything new and interesting given such an enormous literature? Not surprisingly, therefore, it soon turned out that the theoretical compo-nent of such a study would itself be a major undertaking. One single book would barely be enough to explore the many issues, concepts and disciplines involved in the analysis of Ideology , let alone the relations between discourse and Ideology . Nevertheless, I accepted the challenge, and this book is the first instalment of this major enterprise.

6 It discusses some of the fundamental concepts of such a new, multidisciplinary theory of Ideology , and sketches the overall outline of the ways Ideology is expressed and reproduced by discourse. The overall theoretical framework for my approach to Ideology may be sum-marized by the triangle formed by the concepts Cognition, Society and Discourse. That is, first, the status, internal organization and mental func-tions of ideologies need to be studied in tercos of social cognition. Second, the conditions and functions of ideologies are obviously not only cognitive but also social, political, cultural and historical.

7 And third, ideologies are formed, changed and reproduced largely through socially situated discourse and communication. Instead of simply adding results from psychology, the social sciences and discourse studies, however, these three central concepts have to be reformu-lated and integrated into one theoretical framework. Discourse should be explicitly related to the structures and strategies of the personal and social mind, as well as to those of social situations, social interactions and societal structures.

8 In the sarne way, also cognition should be linked with both discourse and society, thus serving as the necessary interface by which social structure can be explicitly related to discourse structure. viii Preface The vast majority of studies of Ideology (whether Marxist or non-Marxist) are rooted in the social sciences and pay extensive attention to ideologies in relation to class, dominant groups, social movements, power, the political economy or, more recently, to gender and culture. They have paid less attention to the cognitive and the discursive dimensions of ideologies , however.

9 Indeed, classical work hardly analyses the details of the 'ideas', 'beliefs' or 'consciousness' assumed to constitute an Ideology . Even most contemporary approaches ignore the advances in current cognitive science, and, vice versa, most cognitive science is barely interested in questions of the mental structures and functions of ideologies . This is why I pay more attention to this cognitive dimension of the theory, while emphasizing that ideologies may well be located in the mirad but that this does not mean that they are therefore less social.

10 Though usually of later vintage, extant work on discourse and Ideology does of course emphasize the important role of text and talk in the (re)production of ideologies . To my knowledge, however, among the many studies of Ideology , some of which also deal with language or discourse, there is not a single one that details how exactly Ideology shapes text and talk, and conversely, how it is formed, acquired or changed by discourse and communication. As part of the more social and political component of the theory, and establishing an explicit link with my previous big project, this book will occasionally use racism and racist ideologies as an illustration of the theoretical argument.