PROBLEMS OF AN IDEOLOGICAL APPROACH
These examples point to the difficulties with ideological thinking. Ideologues tend to apply general principles across the board and often to inapplicable situations. They fail to see that a young girl’s freedom has to be regulated by her parents for her own safety and well-being. Liberty is crucial in many situations. Obviously, one should vote as one wants. But individual liberty may not be an unmitigated virtue for adolescent girls making life choices. Parental guidance and supervision are indispensable for protecting them from hasty moves and evil doers. Grown up girls can go to bars. But they need to exercise this freedom cautiously without getting into harm’s way. These are matters of ordinary prudence and common-sense. Upholders of liberal principles are willing to expose girls to risks in the name of liberty. Any attempts to impose some checks on such risky behaviour immediately raise howls of moral policing.
Ideologues have pre-determined responses to many issues. Ideology is applied to many policies, actions and behaviours. Ideology is like a big package with many items each with approval or disapproval markings. Its faithful followers have to respond according to the markings. Let us look at how a set of ideas and actions elicit unthinking approval (A) or disapproval (D) from leftists and liberals:
Shouting of anti-national slogans (A); police operations against terrorists (D); alleged policeviolations of rights of criminals (D); reports of foreign agencies about human rights violations in India (A); and standing up for national anthem (D). On all these questions, Indian leftists/liberals have stock responses which resemble conditioned reflexes. Their views flow from their ideological predilections such as aversion to nationalism, opposition to state/police powers, devotion to human rights and fear
of symbols of patriotism. Commitment to these general principles prevents them from objectively evaluating individual events or situations.
As Weber and Mannheim recognized, ideological thinking is self-deceiving and self-serving. As self-deception, it helps one to live out his illusions in a personal or group bubble. These bubbles have become large in academia and media in USA and west. Similar bubbles have also formed in India. Some of them represent current ideological academic fashions and fads.
This has led to creation of likeminded groups of ideologues in universities. They resemble street gangs with fierce codes of loyalty. They are in violent opposition with those who think differently. But within the group, minor variations on the principal doctrinal positions are allowed to create cosmetic atmosphere of academic discussion and dissent. Otherwise, ideological purity is preserved within the group in Stalinist style. Real dissent is treated like betrayal, and dissenters like traitors. In this milieu, most social science departments seem to have become echo chambers which reproduce similar noise.
The principal ideology sweeping across US and other western universities is described as ‘liberal, democratic, humanist, secular, tolerant, and multi-cultural’. Similar trends are also in evidence in India. The tolerance however does not extend to rival ideological views. Thus, Harvard University seems to have terminated Dr Subramaian Swami’s teaching contract because of some views he expressed. We are neither competent to judge Dr Swami’s academic standing nor are cognizant of his views which provoked the Harvard establishment. Our limited point is that their action negates academic freedom in what is unquestionably among the top few academic centres of the world. It might not be free from self-interest and designed not to offend prospective donors. The liberal ideology received a temporary setback with Brexit and Trump’s election, but is likely to ride out this hurdle. It may be symptomatic of the end of US exceptionalism and its approaching decline.
We do not suggest for a moment that Indian students should turn away from US universities. In spite of the ideologically induced aberrations especially in social sciences, Ivy League US universities are still the best in the world. Indian students should also bear in mind that our national commitment to knowledge pursuits goes back to our ancient history. However, they should not join hypocritical choruses.
Vulnerability of Students to Ideologies
Students are especially vulnerable to snares of ideological thought. Idealistic students are enraptured by their first exposure to leftist grand theories like Marxism. It is like falling in love. The ideology seems to hold the master key to all the perplexities and doubts of students about social and economic problems. It does away with need for troublesome collection of facts or analysis. They feel a sense of enlightenment or religious awakening. In fact, many writers like Schumpeter have pointed that Marxism is not only an intellectual doctrine but also a millenarian religion promising a paradise on earth for its followers.
Ideologies proved to be collections of mostly wrong ideas. For example, most of Marx’s predictions proved incorrect. Individual ideas of any ideology hardly ever stand up to scientific verification. Ideologies also contain may value judgements. These are neither true nor false; some people adopt them; and others reject them. But many academics preach them as gospel truths.
Getting Hooked to Political Positions
Programmes of political parties include ideological elements. This leads to affinity between political parties and academics espousing similar ideological views. These academics lose their neutrality and objectivity. They become interested advocates of political positions. It is quite common to see academics appearing on TV and supporting party positions in awkward academic and political Jugalbandi. Their views have to be duly discounted.
Hasty Application of Theories to Social Issues
American scholars pioneered in their studies of social problems an empirical, practical, and statistical and factually grounded approach. This stands in contrast to theoretical approaches based more on pure logic and speculation. This practical application of knowledge and dislike of theories and ideologies partly explains the great American achievements in science and technology---which still continue.
But this approach of rapidly mixing theory and practice also creates difficulties in social studies. It works best in experimental and application-based knowledge. Its real life, case study methods also work well perhaps in management studies and teaching. But unlike in medicine or pharmacy or management, theories cannot be readily applied to social problems. The complexity of social problems precludes such ready application.
This can be illustrated with a simple example. People complain that hostileacts against foreigners in England have increased after Brexit. They attribute it to hate speeches of Brexit advocates like Nigel Farage. Incidentally, he is no fire breathing xenophobe. As many Indian origin people stay in UK, we should be grateful to the tolerant Brits for their concerns. But here we consider not their laudable sentiments but a methodological point.
We can assess such statements by forming a rough idea about such increase of ‘hate crimes’ by comparing crimes against foreigners in any town over comparable periods before and after Brexit. The difficulty is that even if there is an increase, it cannot be readily ascribed to hate speeches. There are far too many intervening variables such as circumstances of individual crime, criminal’s motivation and social ambience of the crime scene. Students will easily understand this problem by browsing through chapters on hypothesis testing in any elementary Statistics book. But even academics (who are supposed to know better) glibly link events to their supposed causes.
Orchestrating Agendas through Ideologies
Many genuine but misguided people espouse unpopular agendas or causes due to ideological obsessions. But often the events especially those into which students are enticed are not innocent. There is more than meets the eye. Interested and malicious groups use these seemingly high- minded movements for ulterior ends. They find it easy to target idealist youth and misguided ideologues. These manipulators pulling the levers from behind have no interest in students
or in democracy or in rights. They use these platforms and occasions for harming the nation. Students should be on guard against such forces. They should focus on studies. They should look at issues dispassionately and objectively, and in Janet Yellen’s words, adopt ‘a data dependent approach’.
Some students may feel that we have been harsh on the left without mentioning the conservative right. Others may remind us of Madonna’s song ‘Papa don’t preach’. We concede that we have been more critical of the left mainly because it has become the orthodox ideology. People tend to accept it uncritically as they accept current fashions. Somehow left wing radicalism has got into anti national stances on many matters. It is shy of any form of patriotism and promotes self-loathing. All these are unhealthy attitudes.
At the same time, we readily concede that right wing ideologies are often socially regressive, irrational and hark back to ‘golden days gone by’. They create a halo over obscurantist religious and social practices.