Chapter 8: Ideology and Actualized Democracy: Allies or Enemies?

Actualized democracy refers to a political system “where there is full, informed, equal participation in wide aspects of political, economic, and cultural decision-making independent of financial investment and resources” (Moghaddam, this volume, p. 4). While the concept seems very much like an unattainable, ideal-type democracy, its goals are nevertheless worth striving for. How can we move toward an actualized democracy then? How can we change the behavior of citizens to align it with the changes taking place in formal law and institutions?

While Moghaddam offers an extensive overview of the different micro-macro level changes required for actualized democracy to become a possibility, we will focus in on the importance of our beliefs about the world, and how they shape our actions in it. Particularly, we will consider the role of ideology and the ways in which the everyday reproduction of ideology can help us understand how both our institutions and citizens become part of reproducing systems of inequality and power monopoly.