The Complex Course of Ideological Change |
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| Authors: | Robert Higgs |
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| Institution: | 1. Political Economy for the Independent Institute;2. The author is Senior Fellow in Political Economy for the Independent Institute;3. e‐mail: . Many of his recent writings are available at http://www.independent.org/aboutus/person_detail.asp?id=489. This article was originally prepared for delivery as the Hayek Memorial Lecture at the Austrian Scholars Conference, March 18, 2006, at Auburn, Alabama. The author is grateful to the Ludwig von Mises Institute for the invitation to deliver this address. For helpful comments on a previous draft, he thanks Peter Boettke and Daniel Klein. Julio Cole helped to track down a source. |
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| Abstract: | Abstract . Ideologies are somewhat coherent, rather comprehensive belief systems about social relations, each such system having cognitive, moral, programmatic, and solidary aspects. Such belief systems have played a critical role in determining the nature of the economic order and the size of government, among other things, but scholars have yet to formulate a convincing account of how and why ideological change occurs. In this article, the author discusses some important aspects of ideology and ideological change, indicates how certain notable thinkers have tried to account for such change, and suggests how we might think more productively about some open questions that invite further research. |
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