The term ideology was firstly defined in the writings of Destutt de Tracy a French philosopher at the end of the 18th century According to the New Oxford Dictionary of English the ideology is a system of ideas and ideals especially one forming the basis of economic or political theory and policy Hatim and Mason 1997 p144 define this term as a set of the tacit assumptions beliefs and value systems that can be shared collectively by social groups Ideology is also considered as a belief system Hawkins 2001 stated that the ideology is a source of human conflicts and should be considered a crucial phenomenon like language in translation process A set of beliefs and value systems forming the ideology has a commanding influence on the society Ideology is a way of viewing the world by individuals and institutions In Mooney s study 2011 p 218 the term ideology is defined as a body of ideas or a set of beliefs held by people in their native language Translation is a political activity and product being the result of process of the negotiation among different agents including the translators readers as well authors While taking this factor into consideration the ideology can be also given such definition an action without knowledge or false consciousness Ideology is a term which can be viewed both in positive and negative political sense From a negative political sense ideology is identified as a system of wrong false distorted or otherwise misguided beliefs van Dijk qtd in Calzada Pérez 2003 3 The extension of the concept of ideology helps the people to formulate their lives and understand the relation to their milieu According to Plamentaz 1970 p 75 an ideology is evidently descriptive and explanatory and primarily persuasive
