37 Examples of Social Ideology

John Spacey, updated on March 20, 2024

A social ideology is a set of beliefs and principles for organizing society, politics, economics, social institutions and social relations. This is a broad category of ideology that includes political ideologies, economic ideologies, social ethics and cultural ideologies. Social ideologies address fundamental social questions in areas such as power, justice, change, tradition and how to structure society. The following are common examples of social ideologies.

Political Ideology

Political ideologies are comprehensive sets of principles for organizing a society. These are each based on bodies of academic knowledge and the political traditions and institutions of nations such as political parties.

Anarchism	Authoritarianism
Conservatism	Liberalism
Libertarianism	Monarchism
Nationalism	Progressivism
Reactionary	Republicanism
Totalitarianism

A reactionary seeks to role back change that has occurred in society.

Economic Ideology

Economic ideologies are structures for organizing economic ownership, production, markets, distribution and trade.

Anarcho-Capitalism	Capitalism
Communism	Democratic Socialism
Feudalism	Globalism
Neoliberalism	Protectionism
Social Market Economy	Socialism

A social market economy is capitalism with taxation that provides limited redistribution of wealth often as social services. Most developed nations aren't purely capitalist but are more accurately described as social market economies.

Ethical & Cultural

There are many social ideologies that don't provide a full system for organizing society or the economy. These are typically referred to as ethical & culture ideologies that offer principles for structuring social institutions and relations.

Collectivism	Conservationism
Consumerism	Environmentalism
Ethical Consumerism	Feminism
Humanism	Individualism
Isolationism	Localism
Materialism	Multiculturalism
Pacifism	Secularism
Spiritualism	Traditionalism

Summary

Social ideologies are established sets of beliefs, values and principles related to the organization of society, the economy, social institutions and social relations.