citation-ideology

“Still, even this possibility is short-circuited by a further aspect of
Converse’s argument. What arrests Friedman most about Converse’s
1964 article is evidence not of the widespread political ignorance of the
mass public—which only confirmed longstanding data to the same
effect—but evidence of the distortions caused by the ideological lenses
through which political information tends to be viewed by political elites.
Converse shows that while the masses are “innocent” of ideology, elites
are “constrained” by it—because it is such a valuable heuristic for under-
standing politics. “The heuristic role of ideology suggests that even rela-
tively knowledgeable elites are still ignorant, since they cannot judge the
adequacy of their worldviews without abandoning ideology for an unat-
tainable, universal expertise” (Friedman 1998 , 405 ).”

Patrick J. Deneen (2008) A DIFFERENT KIND OF DEMOCRATIC COMPETENCE:
CITIZENSHIP AND DEMOCRATIC COMMUNITY, Critical Review, 20:1-2, 57-74, DOI:
10.1080/08913810802316340