Information Technology Reference
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The above themes can be noticed in the shift towards computation and software, as
Bauman (2000) points out. Since its inception in the nineteenth century, the (western)
modernist tradition of ideology orbits around five main concepts: emancipation (on a
personal as well as social level), individuality (liberal ideology), time/space (fear of
the stranger), work (with its emphasis on productivity), and community (nationalism,
unity). We shift from “heavy” and “solid,” hardware-focused modernity to a “light”
and “liquid,” software-based modernity (Ibid.). In order to tackle this problem, a shift
of analysis towards this liquid phase is needed. We argue that software—both on the
personal (user) and social (society) level—should be regarded as a driving force, a
catalyst, for a certain type of behavior.
The term “ideology” was coined by Tracy not only as “the science of the formation
of our ideas” (Tracy, 2009, p. 17), but also as their expression, and combination (Ibid.,
p. 1). By this definition, Tracy tries to restore the concept of logics as it was understood
in ancient history. For our purposes, we understand ideology as:
[A] logically coherent system of symbols which, within a more or less sophisticated
conception of history, links the cognitive and evaluative perception of one's social
condition—especially its prospects for the future—to a program of collective action
for the maintenance, alteration or transformation of society.
(Mullins, 1972, p. 150)
What criteria should we then use to recognize ideologies and analyze them fur-
ther? Again, according to Mullins, these components are: cognitive power, evaluative
power, action-orientation, and logical coherence (Ibid.). By cognitive power (Sec-
tion 2.3.1), he means the “cognition and retention of information” (Ibid.), when we
identify and symbolize our recurrent experience. After having done this cognitive
process we can simplify, order, and abstract it for making choices between infor-
mation, e.g., on different causal forces. The evaluative power (Section 2.3.2) is then
based on this understanding of information. Political ideology, “incorporates eval-
uations of what is conceived” and can anticipate “possible events and conditions”
(Ibid.). The action-orientation (Section 2.3.3) is based on the power of the ideol-
ogy to “communicate conditions, evaluations, ideals, and purposes among mem-
bers of groups (
) and thereby facilitates the mobilization and direction of en-
ergies and resources for common political undertakings” (Ibid.). Finally, the logi-
cal coherence (Section 2.3.4) or consistency between various ideology components
means, “the ideology must 'make sense' and not result in logical absurdities”
(Ibid.).
As the word suggests, “ideology” is related to ideas. On this level, it is needed to
focus on the relation between UI and image. As Mitchell put it,
...
The concept of ideology is grounded, as the word suggests, in the notion of mental
entities or “ideas” that provide the materials for thought. Insofar as these ideas are un-
derstood as images—as pictorial, graphic signs imprinted or projected on the medium
of consciousness—then ideology, the science of ideas, is really an iconology, a theory
of imagery.
(Mitchell, 1986, p. 164)
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