Revolution and Witchcraft: The Code of Ideology in Unsettled Times

Description

Ideas influence people.  In particular, extremely well-developed sets of ideas shape individuals, groups, and societies in far-reaching ways.  This book establishes these “idea systems” as an academic concept.  Through three intense episodes of manipulation and mayhem connected to idea systems―Europe’s witch hunts, the Mao Zedong-era “revolutions,” and the early campaign of the U.S. War on Terror―this book charts the cognitive and informational matrices that seize control of people’s mentalities and behaviors across societies.  Through these, the author reaches two conclusions.  The first, that we are all vulnerable to the dominating influence of our own matrices of ideas and to those woven by others in the social system.  The second, that even the most masterful manipulators of idea programs may lose control of the outcomes of programmatic manipulation.  Amongst this analysis, sixty-plus central conceptual terminologies are provided for readers to analyze multiform idea systems that exist across space, time, and cultural contexts. This is an open access book. Foreword Acknowledgments Contents About the Author List of Figures List of Tables Chapter 1: Introduction The Spontaneous Formation of Ideological Ideas Scholarly Engagements with “Ideology” Utilities of a System Perspective Considering the Dynamic Part-Whole Relations Delineating Causal Relationships Identifying Situated, Competent, Artfulness Ideological Works Definition and Characterization of Idea Systems Invisible Control of Building Block Patterns Observing and Deconstructing Codification Seven Domains of Components for Idea Construction Social Actors Who Design, Manipulate, and Activate Idea Systems Active, Grand-Scale Manipulators or Designers Small-time Manipulators Passive, Conduit-Like Users and Activators Methodological Choices to Study Idea Systems Three Cases of Idea Systems Academic, Humanistic, and Practical Connections Engaging Ideological Problems in the Present Time Part I: The European Witch Hunts Chapter 2: Making Compact Symbolic Structures Preexisting Knowledge Compact Symbolic Structures Seven Domains of Components Pre-coding Assembly Compactness of Idea Sets Structures of Idea Sets Diverse, Intricate Justification Structures Flexibility and Restrictedness of Empirical Referents The Case of Anna Fessler in Langenburg Causal Linkage from Repeated Associations, Copresences, and Correlations Data Set: How Much Correlative Evidence Is Enough? Using Language to Organize Copresent and Sequential Correlations Causal Linkage from Experiments and Miscellaneous Testing Mechanisms Backstage Manipulation Interpretive and Design Manipulations Types of Definitive and Uncertain Signs Chapter 3: Building Internal Coherence A Common Code System and Its Set of Coded Things Defining a Cohesive Pool of Qualifying Evidence Converged Matching Evidence as Seen in Confession Accounts Remarkable Account Convergence and Detail-Congruity The Trier Episode Backstage Processes and Internal Coherence Coercion, Seen and Unseen Narrative Shell and Other Institutional Elicitation Structures Undisclosed Informational Leakage Material Verification and the Loudon Possession Episode The Loudon Possession Episode Chapter 4: Building External Coherence Relational Bridges: Thin Versus Thick Parallels Multiple Voices and Multivocality Preemptive Design and Secondary Elaboration Parameters of Acceptable Contradictions External Coherence with Competing Knowledge Systems and Authorities Chapter 5: Stepwise Inferences and Chain-Complexes of Ideas Two Types of Stepwise Inferencing Step-by-Step, Chain-by-Chain Constructions The Bizarre, Brutal Acts Toward Magdalena Bollmann Long Chain Extensions: Unto the Very Far Portal-Like Chain Extensions: Unto the Very Fast Extending and Multiplying Errors: Unto the Very Wrong The Chain-Complex that Entrapped Magdalena Bollmann Chapter 6: Ideas as Chemical and Biochemical Reactions Empirical Rigor: A Physical Safeguard or Chemical Poison? Catalysts and Inhibitors Catalysts Inhibitors Poison or Medicine?: The Intricacy of Chemical Reactions Creative Agency: By a Hair’s Difference Chapter 7: A Five-Tier Model of Idea System and Ideological Creativity Believability Resilience Adaptability Developmental Potential Ease of Use Part II: The New Revolution in China Chapter 8: Compact Symbolic Structures in a Futuristic Idea System An Ideal Vision as Preexisting Knowledge Theoretical Contents Compact Symbolic Structures: Based on Fitting Images Clear Categories and Categorical Aggregates Categorical Versus Continuous Thinking Aggregation Categorical Aggregates as Filters The Idea System in Basic Use Enumeration Escalation, Redirection, De-escalation Chapter 9: Totality as Internal and External Coherence Totalistic: Ideationally, Spiritually, and Institutionally Purity-Focused and Pollution-Conscious Outwardly Collective and Public Preemptive Design and Secondary Elaboration The Chicken Lot Example The Tsinghua University Example Chapter 10: Detailed, Rigorous Thinking in a Complex Chain of Elastic Codes Theorizing Elasticity: Using Elastic Constructs Elastic Constructs Versus Visual Symbols From Resemblance to Equivalence Substantiating Elastic Constructs with Evidence: The Case of Peng Zhen Other Creative Inferencing Forging Connections: Cognitive Portal and Chain-Like Complexes Using Deep Theories: Example of a Volleyball Match Incident Assessing the Great Leap Forward at a Time of Terrible Aftermath Chapter 11: Destabilizing Contradictions and Implosions I: Synchronic Contradictions A Catalogue of Elastic, Approximated Categories Basic Origins of Unresolvable, Built-In Contradictions The Case of the Background Theory Debate Chapter 12: Destabilizing Contradictions and  Implosions II: Diachronic Contradictions Accumulating Diachronically Developed Contradictions Series of National Dramas of Inversal and Reversal External Sources of Contradictions: The Accumulation of Counterimages A. Technical Inefficiency and Limitation B. Hypocrisy and “Other” Truths C. Relative Cruelty D. Growing Personal Competence Chapter 13: A Five-Tier Assessment Believability Resilience Adaptability Developmental Potential Ease of Use Part III: The War on Terror Chapter 14: Encoding the War on Terrorism From 9/11 to the War on Terrorism Script: Using the American Civil Religion Days 1 and 2 The 30 Days Following 9/11 Establishing the Case for the War in Afghanistan Equivalence Through Common Group Membership Streamlining the Mode of Reasoning The Design of Political Demands The Design of “Draining the Swamp” Policy Metaphor Maneuvering over Contesting Epistemic Conventions Chapter 15: Extending the Idea System to the War on Iraq The Threat of Iraq: Codification in the Face of Empirical Ambiguity Secretary Powell’s U.N. Presentation Intelligence Sources as a Superior Kind of Information Detailed Congruity and Account Convergence from a Polyphony of Authorities Accounting and Displaying Patterns in Ambiguous Empirical Materials Defectors’ Accounts: Detailed Congruities Using Ambiguous Signs in Stepwise Inferencing Hybrid Codification Processes: Imbricating Ideational Codification into Empirical Codification Displaying Nation-Terrorist Connections Integrative Arguments Delivered to the American Public Chapter 16: Encoding the Prisoner’s Abuse Scandal Outbreak of the Abu Ghraib Scandal on CBS 60 Minutes II Early Codification by the Bush Administration Varied Codification by Republicans Tentative Idea One: Technical, Systemic Failure to Blame Tentative Idea Two: A Few Bad Soldiers to Blame Varied Codification by Democrats Tentative Idea One: Critiquing Anonymous Authorities and Administrative Incompetence Tentative Idea Two: The Fault of Secretary Rumsfeld Policing the War on Terrorism Script Parameters Chapter 17: Encoding the Absence of Weapons of Mass Destruction Timeline of the Iraq Weapons Search Scandal Tabulating Threat from Summative Capability Tabulating Threat from Uncertain Signs Stepwise Division in Constructing Threat An Alternative Theory of Threat: Iraq’s Chaotic Environment Further Extrapolations: Judgments Encoded in “the Language of Washington” The Hybrid Codification of Costs and Benefits Demarcating the Causes and Nature of National Errors Chapter 18: A Five-Tier Reflection Believability Resilience Adaptability Developmental Potential Ease of Use Chapter 19: Conclusion Idea System as a Matrix Academic Recapitulations A Three-Stage “Life Cycle” of Idea Systems Basic Mechanisms of Idea Systems Typologies and Mixtures of Idea Systems Humanistic Recapitulations Intensified Vestiges from Past to Present The Limitation of Scientific and Rationalist Mentalities Fair-Mindedness as a Thought Ability, Attitude, and Principle Index