Total and Totalitarian Ideologies

Abstract

Modern political ideologies can be divided into two categories, individualist and holistic. ‘Unity’, ‘community’, ‘totality’, ‘organism’ are typical concepts of holistic ideologies. This article deals with the holistic ideologies born after the French Revolution, and within this category distinguishes total from totalitarian ideologies. A total ideology is a global conception of life and of history, which postulates the social essence of man and subordinates the individual to the collective. A totalitarian ideology may be defined as a holistic ideology of a revolutionary party that considers itself to be the unique and exclusive vanguard of its own reference group—the proletariat, the nation, the racial entity—and as such demands for itself a monopoly of power in order to establish a new order. Total and totalitarian ideologies, presenting themselves as global conceptions of life that defined the significance and ends of individual and collective existence, have been interpreted as secular religions contributing to the sacralization of politics.