Open AccessTaking ideology seriously in the time of plague: insights versus distractions
Author(s) -
Rafal Soborski,
AUTHOR_ID
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
acta academica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2415-0479
pISSN - 0587-2405
DOI - 10.18820/24150479/aa53i2/6
Subject(s) - ideology , populism , argument (complex analysis) , neoliberalism (international relations) , politics , epistemology , sociology , covid-19 , political economy , positive economics , political science , law , philosophy , economics , medicine , biochemistry , chemistry , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
This article argues that insights from ideology theory shed valuable light on the political aspects of COVID-19 and help understand and categorise policy responses to it. Much of the debate on the politics of COVID-19 has been dominated by questions concerning populism, but this article contends that this is not a fruitful direction for understanding current developments. The argument advanced here is that populism is a hollow and incoherent ideological category and so does not provide a suitable departure point to explore the ideological dimension of the pandemic. On the other hand, a critical engagement with the dominant ideology of neoliberalism goes a long way to explain different kinds of political fallout from COVID-19. While neoliberalism is unfit for the challenge posed by the virus, identifying the ideological underpinnings of the neoliberal approach may help to grasp its implications and formulate urgently needed alternatives.