Abstract

Scientific movements and ideologies have often been presented as opposing, and even antagonistic, concepts. However, the relation between them is not so simple. Scientific knowledge and ideology represent complex concepts, polysemic in their daily usage. Despite repeated announcements of the impending end of ideology (Bell, 1960), the concept of ideology allows for a comprehensive and critical analysis of conceptual formulations presented as global proposals (Eagleton, 1991). This concept also has some advantages over units of analysis that are more abstract, less operational, or more partial and limited, such as scientific paradigms (Kuhn, 1962), research programs (Lakatos, 1970), scientific or intellectual movements (Frickel & Gross, 2005), or the history of concepts (Koselleck, 2002). Above all, the concept of ideology helps to better situate the position of a certain system of knowledge in a given society, as well as its social function.