ideology

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from French idéologie, from idéo- + -logie (equivalent to English ideo- + -logy). Cognate with, but not derived from, idea. Coined 1796 by Antoine Destutt de Tracy. Modern sense of “doctrine” attributed to use of related idéologue (“ideologue”) by Napoleon Bonaparte as a term of abuse towards political opponents in early 1800s.

1. Doctrine, philosophy, body of beliefs or principles belonging to an individual or group.

   “A dictatorship bans things, that do not conform to its ideology, to secure its reign.”

   “This article examines how these three scholars use the term "Occitan" and ideologies of Occitanism to characterize southern France, and how such ideologies reflect the intellectual traditions in which they write.”

2. The study of the origin and nature of ideas.