End of Ideology

End of Ideology debate. UPSC 2019 Paper 1A Qn 1c

Western liberal democracies view ideology as a tool of totalitarianism which had no place in open societies. 'End of ideology' implies that at the advanced stage of industrial development, a country's socioeconomic organization is determined by the level of its development and not by its political ideology.

According to Ralph Dahrendorf, western societies are post-capitalist societies. Unlike in Capitalist societies where industrial and political conflicts were superimposed, in post-capitalist societies, industry and society were dissociated. So he concluded that Marxian ideology was no longer suitable for the analysis of Western societies.

The growing services sector in post-industrialized societies can no longer be associated with political ideology. (Daniel Bell)

According to Lipset, the triumph of democracy in the West led to the realization that no new ideologies are required to motivate them to political action as the only issue before politics is concerned with marginal increase in wages, marginal rise in prices, and extension of pension. Democracy brought in concepts like equality, the welfare state, and freedom to satisfy different sections of society.

J.K. Galbraith identified certain characteristics of advanced industrial societies that correspond to the end of the ideology thesis. Industrial societies are destined for similar development, which involves greater centralization, bureaucratization, professionalization, and technocratization. The country's techno-economic structure is shaped by the level of industrialization and not by political ideology.

Francis Fukuyama's end-of-history debate concluded that the collapse of communism marked the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of government.

C. Wright Mills argued that the upholders of the end of the ideology thesis advocate the status quo. For them, the present order of political setup appears to be the only way available.

The end of ideology debate is designed to project the supremacy of the liberal-democratic system.

 

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