Descripción, historial y aspectos relevantes de los Ecosistemas

This thesis has investigated 33 IAC articles to testify whether standard writing procedures exist. Six procedures are concluded. This chapter has mainly focused on the first procedure, which is to identify essential elements of ideology (i.e., the researched phenomenon), including three essential elements, Class, power, and reality. These three elements and their interaction together delineate one ideology. In other words, investigating these three essential elements and their relationship explains what the nature of ideology it is.

This chapter has introduced the related ideology literature through the dimensions of Class, power, reality, and their relationship. Relative examples found in 33 IAC articles have also been provided. Applying the ‘Class, power, reality’ dimension to explain the nature of ideology is not new, as this dimension existed in de Tracy’s time when the term ideology was coined.

Thus, this section will tell a story about the unfinished business between Napoleon and de Tracy to test the ‘Class, power, reality’ dimension (i.e., procedure 1: identifying essential elements) in understanding ideology. It is this chapter’s conclusion yet, could also be seen as its introduction. Not surprisingly, any discussion of ideology per se is a loop; the introduction is the conclusion, the conclusion, the introduction.

Unfinished Business between de Tracy and Napoleon

Although John Plamenatz (1970) offered the term ideology a different origination, most ideology researchers consider that this terminology was created by Destutt de Tracy. He named it “idea-logy” (McLellan, 1995, p.5). De Tracy, a French philosopher, had a complicated, unfinished business with the famous emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. Despite the varying meanings of ideology pointed out by researchers from one generation to another, it can be confidently claimed that, if we return to examine the relationship between de Tracy and Napoleon, all questions regarding discussions of ideology can be found.

With Napoleon’s help, de Tracy created a science subject, idea-logy, which focused on the ground, the origin, the nature and the essence of humans’ ideas (McLellan, 1995; Freeden, 2003; Eagleton, 2007). To de Tracy, ideas can be found empirically (Freeden, 2003) through the “physical sensations” (McLellan, 1995, p.5). He wished that researchers could dismiss their own stereotype and short-sighted views to deal with a rigorous analysis of human ideas.

Procedure 1: Identifying Essential Elements It is reasonable to say that idea-logy possessed an energetic meaning at this moment, that is, ideology maintained a positive, or at least, a neutral position.

As previously set out, these French men had unfinished business. De Tracy received his sponsorship from Napoleon, but Napoleon was also the one who kicked away the ladder. A strong empire requires many elements to maintain its power; in Napoleon’s case, it was mainly a religious element. Nevertheless, his close relationship with religion received much critique from de Tracy and his followers. Based on an unbalanced relationship of power, the latter was defeated by Napoleon easily. Napoleon claimed that “this cloudy metaphysics [will…] attribute all the misfortunes of our fair France” (Barth, 1977, p.27 in McLellan, 1995, p.5). Napoleon also promoted law and history to a higher position which, to him, could maintain France’s honour (McLellan, 1995). The winner rules, while the loser is ruled.

Napoleon demonstrated the notion of ideological hegemony. Most researchers reported that the notion of ideology started to convey a negative meaning from then on.

Applying to the statement of this thesis, the concepts of ideology such as ‘dominant ideology’ (e.g., here, religion) and ‘dominant Class’ (e.g., Napoleon and his courtiers) surpassing the oppressed Class (e.g., de Tracy and his fellows) and their opinions (e.g., new subject idea-logy) are revealed here. With Napoleon’s dominant position he could twist an idea easily, which refers to the notion of power operation. With Napoleon’s (unbalanced) relationship with de Tracy displays the concept of ‘competing Classes’. Moreover, his words of ‘cloudy metaphysics’ and ‘misfortunes of our fair France (emphasis added)’ also indirectly implied the discussion about whether ideology is ‘false consciousness’. This true or false consciousness also points to the origin of such a discussion, that is, how reality is described.

To conclude, this thesis applies the story of de Tracy and Napoleon to demonstrate that identifying ideology’s three composing elements, Class, power, reality, and their relationship (i.e., the first procedure of SWP) is a means to understanding the structure, feature, and even the nature of the researched phenomenon. While identifying these essential elements of research phenomenon, it is able to reveal the nature of such ideology (phenomenon) which is also the foundation work to analyse or criticise this ideology (phenomenon).

Procedure 2: Applying Theoretical Foundation

Chapter 6

Procedure 2: Applying Theoretical Foundations

— The Making of Ideology

6.1 Introduction

The first procedure of SWPs introduced in the previous chapter is to identify essential elements of a researched phenomenon. This is a procedure to understand the nature of the researched phenomenon which is composed of three essential elements: Class, power, and reality. These three elements and their interaction together delineate an ideology, which forms analysts’ initial motivation and their presumed standpoints that might have affected the conclusion drawn through the analysis.

It might be argued that although the nature of researched phenomenon might be similar, ideological analysis/critique should be unique from one case to another once their practical and detailed writing texts are considered. Yet, this thesis argues there are still some common features among these seemingly diverse ideological analyses. Even the apparently unique writings still reveal certain commonalities, which are the foundation that this thesis inducted to SWPs.

If the first procedure (identifying essential elements) is to study the nature of the researched phenomenon, then the following five procedures could be seen as ways to investigate how/why such a phenomenon conveys a certain ideology or can be seen as an ideology, that is, to understand the making of ideology. These procedures will be introduced in the following chapters, including procedures of 2) applying theoretical foundations, 3) connoting certain meanings, 4) illustrating (incl. articulating and interpellating), 5) selecting expression styles, and 6) revealing personal viewpoints.

Procedure 2: Applying Theoretical Foundations

Although the IAC analysts’ academic background is different and the subjects they investigate are diverse, many similarities among these 33 IAC articles can be found, including the application of theories which, to a great degree, could influence the structure, writing trend, argument, or even the conclusion of an IAC article.

Therefore, understanding the theoretical foundation adopted by IAC analysts in their articles will help to comprehend the ideology of the researched phenomenon that they have tried to present/construct, or convince us to believe. This thesis has inducted 33 IAC analysts’

common application of ideology theories into five theoretical foundations (or analytical pathways). They are: 1) Marx’s, 2) Althusser’s, 3) Gramscian, 4) historical descriptive, and 5) semiotic analytical pathways.

Whilst five pathways have been inducted, this does not mean that IAC analysts only adopt one pathway to analyse their research, nor does it mean that methods of analysing ideology are limited to these five dimensions. Works of ideological analysis or critique are various and abundant. The following discussion will gradually introduce these five analytical pathways. Related theoretical review will be provided first, and followed by offering the results from empirical analysis. Moreover, since establishing a methodology for ideological analysis/critique is also an aim of this thesis, how to apply these theoretical foundations (or analytical pathways) will be suggested as well.