Ideologies, cognitive orientations

Ideology is typically associated with the classification of belief systems and the construction of social meaning, the development of political traditions – formal ideologies – and their function. In protest movement literature the significance of ideology as a discrete area of analysis is contested. At the heart of the debate is an argument about the role ideology plays in mobilizing action: in encouraging or securing the alignment of social movement organizational values with non-movement belief systems and/or in shaping and re-shaping activist understandings. Some scholars argue that emotions play a key role in this process; ideology focuses attention on what individuals know, or think they know about the world – on cognitive factors – in forging alignments and orienting actions.