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Ideology and Theory in Metatheoretical Perspective

At its inception, in the writings of the 18th century philosopher Destutt de Tracy,¹ ideology was defined as a type of theory. Tracy endeavored to lay out a "plan of the elements of ideology... to give a complete knowledge of our intellectual faculties, and to deduce from that knowledge the first principles of all other branches of our knowledge."² In other words, he envisioned ideology as a master plan that assigns lesser disciplines their appropriate niches, evinces their patterns of interconnection, and guides individual and collective, i.e., political action.³

A major shift in the fortunes of ideology occurred around 1812,...