Available via license: CC BY-NC 4.0
Content may be subject to copyright.
The Implication of Social Ideological Trend (The
Trend of Thoughts Which Has General Influence
on People and Society in Certain Period)
Weny i L i u (B)
School of Marxism, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong, China
tjdlwy@jnu.edu.cn
Abstract. With the economic and social development and the resulting social
structure adjustment and interest pattern changes, various social ideological trends
in China are surging one after another, which have attracted the attention and
research of the academic circles. However, there are still different opinions on the
definition of social ideological trend. Therefore, clarifying its meaning is still an
important issue in the current study of social ideological trend. Social ideological
trend is a special form of social consciousness. To define it scientifically, the basic
principles of historical materialism must be followed. According to the studies,
social ideological trend refers to ideological trend that reflects the interests and
requirements of a certain class or stratum in a certain historical period, is based on
social psychological resonance, takes the ideological system as the core, is widely
disseminated among the masses, and has a significant impact on social life. Also,
social ideological trend is composed of three basic elements, such as broad social
psychological foundation, popular ideological and theoretical core, and dynamic
intermediary fusion mechanism, with the characteristics of social reality, dynamic
transformation, extensive groupment and political tendency.
Keywords: Historical materialism ·Social ideological trend ·Implication
1 Introduction
Since the reform and opening up, various social ideological trends have surged in China,
which have attracted extensive attention and research in the academic circles. At the
same time, clarifying the social ideological trend is a primary problem in the study of
social thought. Based on Marxist historical materialism, this study attempts to explore
the implication of social ideological trend from the aspects of concept interpretation,
content composition and basic characteristics. This is of great value and significance to
correctly understand and lead all kinds of social ideological trends.
Fund: This study is supported by the phased results of Special Project of National Social Science
and Ideology and Politic — “Research on the Influence of Internet Social Thought on the Formation
of College Students’ Marxist Beliefs and Countermeasures” (19VSZ044) and the General Project
of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education — “Research on Marx’s Thought
on People’s Livelihood from the Perspective of Capital Criticism” (2019YJC710045).
© The Author(s) 2023
Y. Pogrebnyak and R. Hou (Eds.): ICLCCS 2022, ASSEHR 689, pp. 286–298, 2023.
https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-494069-27-5_33
The Implication of Social Ideological Trend 287
2 “Concept Interpretation” of Social Ideological Trend
In terms of etymology, ideological trend is not original word, but synthetic word. “思
潮” is generally translated as “trends of thought” or “ideological trend” in English; “潮”
is translated as “trend”, which means tendency, trend and so on; and “trends of thought”
or “ideological trend” means “tendency or trend of thought”. In Chinese, the trend of
thought is composed of “思” (thought) and “潮” (trend). In Xu Shen’s “Shuo Wen Jie Zi”,
“thinking is inclusive, following the heart and fontanelle.” According to the “original
intention” of “思” (thought) =“heart” +“fontanelle (brain)”, “思” (thought) means the
unity of mind memory and spiritual feeling, and contains the modern meanings, such as
thought, thinking and mood. As for the word “潮” (trend), according to the explanation
of the revised edition of “Etymology”, “the sea water rises and falls regularly, which is
the tide.” It can be seen that “ideological trend” refers to “thinking, thought and mood
fluctuate like sea water”, which is extended to the tendency of thoughts, as well as the
transformation, transformation and change of ideological views.
Liang Qichao used “ideological trend” as a metaphor and made an authoritative
interpretation of it. In 1902, Liang Qichao pointed out in his article “on the ideological
trend of the times”: “today’s constant words are the ideological trends of the times. These
are the best words to describe it. In a country with cultural development, citizens tend to
follow the same direction due to the changes of the environment, the psychological appeal
and the approach of thoughts, so they echo each other and surge like a tide. All ‘thoughts’
can become “tides” and those who can become “tides” must have considerable value and
be suitable for the requirements of their times. Not every ‘era’ has ‘ideological trend’.
The era with ideological trend must also be the era of cultural advancement” [1]1.From
Liang’s definition of the “ideological trend”, he not only revealed the general meaning
of “ideological trend”, that is, “thinking, thought and feeling rise and fall like the tide”,
but also revealed the necessary conditions for the emergence of social ideological trend,
such as the changes of the times, the spontaneous social psychology and ideological
resonance of the masses, etc. And this is of important reference significance for future
generations to investigate the meaning and characteristics of social ideological trend.
However, “the deficiency of Liang’s theory lied in that it only summarized the state of
the transformation of ‘ideological trend’ in form and appearance, but did not reveal the
internal reasons for the transformation of ideological trend” [2]. In other words, Liang
Qichao was mostly confined to the field of pure academic research, but did not go deep
into the field of social material life in which social ideological trend would produce.
As a result, he could not distinguish the social nature (progress or backwardness) and
fundamental direction (revolution or reactionary) of the ideological trend, but could only
unilaterally believe that all social ideological trends had a certain value of the times, and
the era of social ideological trends was the era of social change and progress.
Until the late May 4th New Culture Movement, with the communication of historical
materialism in China, some early Marxists began to consciously explain the root of the
change of social consciousness with the changes of social material conditions, so as to
break through the limitations of Liang Qichao’s research on ideological trend. At that
time, Li Dazhao, who initially became a communist, made great contributions to the
early dissemination and sinicization of historical materialism in China. In May 1919, he
set up a special issue of “Marxist research” in Volume 6, No. 5 of the “New Youth” to
288 W. Liu
help the supplement of the “Morning Paper” open up a column of “Marxist research”
and publicize Marxist theory. Li Dazhao himself concentrated on explaining the essence
of historical materialism through articles such as “My Idea of Marxism”, “Material
Change and Moral Change”, “Explaining the Reason of Chinese Modern Ideological
Change from Economy”, and “The Significance of Materialistic Conception of History
in Modern History”, and began to observe and analyze the Chinese problems at that
time by using the principles and methods of historical materialism. For example, at
the beginning of his article “Explaining the Reason of Chinese Modern Ideological
Change from Economy”, he made the remarks that “in every era, if there were changes
in the economy, there would be changes in the ideology” and “economic changes were
the important reasons for the ideological changes”, which scientifically revealed the
social material and economic conditions for the emergence of social ideological trends.
Although Li Dazhao did not make a clear interpretation of the social ideological trend like
Liang Qichao, he profoundly pointed out a methodology to study the social ideological
trend — historical materialism.
Of course, historical materialism is also the basic principle observed in the definition
of social ideological trend in the commonly-used reference books in China. The new
edition of “Ci Hai” (1979) defined “ideological trend” as (1) an ideological tendency
reflecting the interests and requirements of a certain class or stratum in a certain his-
torical period and (2) emerging thoughts and feelings”. The “Encyclopedia of China”
(Philosophy Volume) (1993) held that social ideological trends were “ideological trends
or tendencies that reflected certain interests or requirements of people in a specific envi-
ronment and had a wide impact on social life”. Like “Ci Hai”, “Encyclopedia of China”
not only regarded social ideological trend as “an ideological tendency reflecting the
interests and requirements of a certain class or stratum in a certain historical period”, but
also added the reaction of social ideological trend to social existence (social life), with
more dialectical connotation. The interpretation of the same entry in “Modern Chinese
Dictionary” (2005) was “the ideological trend that reflected the social and political situ-
ation at that time and had a great influence in a certain class or stratum in a certain period
and (3) successive ideological activities”. It was slightly different from the “theory of
ideological tendency” based on the “interest requirements” of social ideological trend in
“Ci Hai” and “Encyclopedia of China”, while the “Modern Chinese Dictionary” focused
on the “theory of ideological trend” based on the “political situation”. At present, when
academic circles define “social ideological trend”, they mostly draw lessons from these
two “biases” namely, the theory of ideological tendency and the theory of ideological
trend.
Then, what are the differences between “ideological tendency theory” and “ideo-
logical trend theory” in specific details, and what are their “gains and losses”? Scholars
such as Bu Desheng have described this in detail. According to Bu Desheng, “the word
‘tendency’ means being ready to move, but is still a potential state and has not formed a
trend. Even if the social ideological trend is in the stage of enlightenment, the ideological
theory has initially spread among social members. The theory of ideological tendency
ignores the characteristics of social ideological trend, which has both social psychology
and ideology and is active at these two levels, that is, it ignores the important role of
“ideology” in social ideological trend.” Further, he believes that “although the theory
The Implication of Social Ideological Trend 289
of ideological trend emphasizes the dynamics of ideological trend, social ideological
trends must resonate with people’s psychology, be recognized or accepted by people,
and master a considerable part of people before they can be spread. Therefore, they all
ignore the psychological basis of social ideological trends” [3]. Therefore, the “theory
of ideological tendency” and “theory of ideological trend” have their own advantages
and disadvantages and need to be dialectically integrated.
After sorting out the above literature, it is found that clarifying the connotation of
social ideological trend is still an important topic in the overall research process of
current social ideological trend. In terms of word composition, “ideological trend” is
compared to the “fluctuation” of the unified existence of “brain knowledge (rational
factors)” and “psychological feeling” (psychological factors). Liang Qichao’s definition
of “ideological trend” revealed the times, spontaneous thought, psychological resonance
and mass of ideological trend, but ignored the social material living conditions that
played a fundamental decisive role, which was doomed to be imperfect. Li Dazhao used
historical materialism to explore the motivation of “social ideological trend”, which set
a benchmark for future generations to grasp social ideological trend scientifically. The
“gains and losses” of “ideological tendency theory” and “ideological trend theory” in
modern reference books on the definition of “social ideological trend” provide a valuable
reference for people to comprehensively and dialectically understand the connotation
of social ideological trend. Based on these reasons, it is believed that social ideological
trend is an ideological trend that reflects the interests and requirements of a certain
class or stratum in a certain historical period, is based on social psychological resonance
and centered on the ideological system, is widely spread among the masses and has a
significant impact on social life.
3 “Content Composition” of Social Ideological Trend
Grasping the “content composition” of social ideological trend is an indispensable step
to understand the concept of social ideological trend. According to the basic principle
of historical materialism, social ideological trend is the reflection of social existence in
people’s consciousness, which belongs to the category of social consciousness. In order
to understand the “content composition” of social ideological trends, it is necessary to
first clarify the position of social ideological trend in the social consciousness system.
The scientific theory of social consciousness was founded by Marx. Through the in-
depth study of social history, Marx obtained scientific conclusions that “people’s social
existence determined people’s consciousness” and “consciousness was the product of
society at the beginning”, and explained the status and essence of social consciousness
in all social life. However, Marx did not make a more detailed discussion on the specific
links that social existence determined social consciousness and the structural level of
social consciousness itself. Later, Plekhanov, Russian Marxist pioneer, made up for this
shortcoming and made an important exploration.
Plekhanov followed Engels’ “theoretical teachings of the deceased” and put for-
ward the famous “five factor formula”, which further subdivided the structural level of
social consciousness. In 1893, in a letter to Merlin, Engels pointed out a direction of
“in-depth study of historical materialism” to future generations. He wrote: “this point
290 W. Liu
is not emphasized enough in works of Marx and me. We all have the same fault in this
regard. That is to say, we all focus on drawing political, legal and other ideological ideas
from basic economic facts and actions mediated by these ideas, and we must do so. But
when we do this, we ignore the formal aspect for the sake of content, that is, what kind of
ways and methods these ideas are produced by” [4]657. Inspired by Engels’ “theoretical
teachings of the deceased”, Plekhanov devoted himself with great enthusiasm to the
thinking of “how social existence determined social consciousness”, the famous “five
factor formula” on social structure was formed, including (1) the situation of produc-
tivity, (2) the economic relations restricted by productivity, (3) the social and political
system developed on a certain economic basis, (4) the psychology of people in society,
which is directly determined by the economy and partly determined by the whole social
and political system developed on the economy, and (5) various ideological systems
reflecting this psychological characteristic” [5]195. Compared with the traditional divi-
sion of social structure into four levels, such as social production, economic structure
(the sum of production relations), legal and political superstructure, social conscious-
ness form or ideology, Plekhanov added the level of “social psychology” among social
productivity, economic structure (the sum of production relations) and legal and politi-
cal and social superstructure. Plekhanov attached great importance to this “supplement”
and believed that “without careful research and understanding of social psychology, the
historical materialist interpretation of the ideological system was impossible” [6]272.
Only the “five factor formula” with the addition of “social psychology” can make the
historical materialism become a monist formula. In Prikhanov’s opinion, in the frame-
work of the basic principle of historical materialism that social existence determined
social consciousness — the “five item theory”, “the first three factors” belonged to the
category of social existence and were the three basic elements of social existence; “the
latter two factors” belonged to the category of social consciousness and constituted the
two basic forms of social consciousness, which endowed social psychology with impor-
tance. How is this importance reflected? According to Plekhanov, as the “fourth factor”
of the “five factor formula”, “social psychology” was an essential “intermediary link”
between social existence and ideological system. That is to say, social existence should
determine various ideological systems through social psychology. Similarly, various
ideological systems should reflect and react on people’s social existence through social
psychology.
Plekhanov’s “five factor formula”, especially his “intermediary” theory of social psy-
chology, had great contribution. He not only explained the form and way in which social
existence acted on the ideological system, but also provided important enlightenment
for future generations to continue to expand the structural level of social consciousness.
Inspired by Plekhanov, Chinese academic circles creatively bring social ideological
trends into the category of social consciousness, regard it as the “middle” level between
social psychology and ideological system, and form the “three-level” theory of social
consciousness structure. As the research on the “three levels” of social consciousness is
carried out in depth, the “basic component” of social ideological trend as the “level of
intermediary consciousness” is gradually clear.
The Implication of Social Ideological Trend 291
The popular understanding of the “constituent elements” of social ideological trend
in academia is “comprehensive theory”. Most people believe that “as a certain ideo-
logical tendency, social ideological trend is a form of dynamic blending of theoretical
consciousness and psychological consciousness [7], is based on a certain social psychol-
ogy and supported by a certain ideological theory, permeates and runs through the two
levels of social psychology and specific ideological theory, and is the expression of the
dialectical synthesis of these two different levels of social consciousness” [8]. When it
comes to the position of social psychology and ideological system in the composition
of social ideological trend, the academic circles generally advocate the “imbalance the-
ory”, holding that “social psychology in social ideological trend is important, but social
ideology and theoretical viewpoint in social ideological trend are more important” [9],
and “ideological system factor is the ‘hard core’ and symbol of social ideological trend”
[10].
Combined with the academic discussion, the “content composition” of social
ideological trend can be concluded into three organic components.
3.1 Extensive Psychosocial Foundation
The social psychology mentioned here is not a concept in the sense of general social
psychology, but a category of philosophy and history. Plekhanov made the most com-
prehensive and profound exposition on it, which was mainly reflected in works such
as the “collection of historical treatises of materialism”, the “development of monis-
tic historical view”, and the “historical view of materialism”. However, unfortunately,
when discussing social psychology, he did not give a clear definition of social psychol-
ogy. From the general provisions, Plekhanov sometimes said that “social psychology
referred to the subjective aspect of human life and the psychological aspect, namely,
human spirit, human feeling and idea, certain mental and moral condition; [6]186 in
terms of class attribute, social psychology referred to “the main emotion and ideological
state of a certain social class in a certain country at a certain time” [6]272–273;fromthe
form of expression, social psychology referred to “habit, morality, feeling, view, inten-
tion and ideal” [11]715, and so on. To sum up, it is a direct and empirical reflection of
social relations determined by productivity; it is a popular mental state in a specific era,
country, nation, class and stratum; it is an unprocessed and chaotic spontaneous social
consciousness; it takes habits, feelings, emotions, motives, ideals, moral fashion and
aesthetic taste as the forms of expression; and it is characterized by simplicity, liquidity
and volatility. These statements of Plekhanov provide important ideological support for
later generations to explore the psychological environment of social ideological trends.
Taking Plekhanov’s theory of social philosophy and psychology as the resource,
some commentators believe that “the popularity of a certain theory, the display of a
certain ideological trend, and even the ups and downs of the whole social ideological
trend have its source and surging psychological environment, its psychological situa-
tion of breeding and reproduction, that is, they have psychological tension foundation”
[7]. In other words, surging social psychology is the necessary premise for the gen-
eration of social ideological trend.” Specifically, the mechanism of social psychology
should go through the following links: the changes of productive relations caused by the
development of productive forces are reflected in people’s psychology and effectively
292 W. Liu
changed; the stimulated social psychology forms a new social psychological intention
in the division and combination, so as to produce psychological resonance; when the
social psychological intention accumulates, expands and extends in a specific mass, and
surges and develops in one direction, it will evolve into a social ideological trend. It can
be seen that the latent social psychology is not only the premise and foundation of social
ideological trend, but also the constituent elements of social ideological trend.
3.2 Popular Ideological and Theoretical Core
If the collection of “hidden social psychological factors” in society does not contain
popular ideological and theoretical contents and lacks the guidance of ideological and
theoretical theories, it will not be able to form social ideological trend. “Psychological
resonance shows that there are common points in people’s psychological aspirations,
but the common points are not the combination point after all, and the formation of
social ideological trend obviously needs a combination of spirits” [12], which requires
a relatively stable ideological and theoretical core.
In Plekhanov’s theory of social consciousness, the ideological system is a high level
of social consciousness. Like Marx and Engels, Plekhanov understood the ideological
system as a social consciousness summarized, refined, processed and systematized by
professional thinkers. In this sense, when discussing the connotation of thought, Geng
Yunzhi said: “what can be called thought should have at least several necessary condi-
tions, such as (1) it is practical and targeted, and it is thinking about the actual problems
that exist objectively, not wishful thinking; (2) it is systematic, it puts forward opinions
on the occurrence, development, advantages and disadvantages of the problem and the
methods to deal with it, and it is not a piece of nonsense; (3) thoughts that have a certain
influence and do not have any influence in society cannot occupy a position in the history
of thought” [13].
The “influence” of the ideological system is mainly reflected in its dynamic role.
Marx has a famous saying that people often quote: “once the theory is mastered by
the masses, it will also become a material force” [5]9. “Theory leading the masses”
mentioned here refers to the role of the ideological system in arming people’s minds
and psychology, and “turning into material force” refers to the influence of the ide-
ological system on people’s practical activities. Furthermore, “as the highest level of
social consciousness, social ideology should be transformed into material force to guide
or influence people’s practical activities. In addition, it must be integrated with social
psychology, enter people’s hearts, become people’s beliefs, and integrate into people’s
daily consciousness through creating public opinion” [14]. In this process, when peo-
ple’s thoughts, emotions and psychological activities “converge” along a certain trend
under the call and shock of the corresponding ideological system, they will evolve into
an influential social ideological trend.
3.3 Dynamic Mediation Fusion Mechanism
The formation of social ideological trend should have both extensive social psychological
foundation and the guidance of ideological theory. However, social ideological trend is
by no means the mechanical addition of social psychology and ideological theory, but
The Implication of Social Ideological Trend 293
an organic synthesis active at two levels in a dynamic way. In order to understand its
mechanism, it is necessary to clarify the internal relationship between social psychology
and ideological system.
Plekhanov made a clear discussion on the relationship between social psychology
and ideological system. He first emphasized the “decisive” role of social psychology in
the ideological system, holding that “all ideological systems had a common source, that
is, the psychology of a certain era” [5]196, social people had a certain psychology, and the
characteristics of this psychology determined all the ideologies they established” [5]734.
In his works, Plekhanov also conducted extensive research on the social psychological
basis of ideologies such as philosophy, religion, law, politics, especially art, and came
to the conclusion that social psychology “determined” ideology. Secondly, ideological
system or ideology has a significant reaction to social psychology. Plekhanov inherited
the social ideology reaction thought of Marx and Engels and developed the interpretation
approach that the ideological system reacted on the social psychology and then affected
the social reality. In this sense, he believed that a certain ideological system would exert
great influence on the social psychology at that time, making it change according to its
own ideas, and then following the established direction to achieve the expected goal.
In the process of social consciousness activities, social ideological trend is a special
form of social consciousness. What kind of “role” does it play? Scholars generally
adhere to the “intermediary theory”. For example, Xiao Jinquan believed that although
“social psychology” provided the initial materials for the “ideological system”, it was
mostly scattered and piecemeal. If thinkers wanted to extract the ideological system from
this simple and disordered daily consciousness, they must feel the rationality and the
brilliance of thought from the realistic requirements and interests of the masses. Besides,
the social ideological trend could make the rational accumulation contained in the social
psychology clear and centralized, so as to provide an intermediary role for thinkers to
construct the ideological system. On the contrary, if any ideological system wanted to
integrate into the psychology of social members and form a strong spiritual force, it must
first be transformed into the social ideological trend generally accepted by the masses
[15].
The “intermediary” nature of social ideological trend determines that it is neither
pure social psychology nor completely equivalent to ideological system or ideology, but
a comprehensive social consciousness formed by the blending of the two. According
to the dialectical law of the development of things, social psychology and ideological
system, as the two sides of the contradiction, are often in tension, so as to promote the
development of human social consciousness. In this process, social ideological trends
exist at two levels in a dynamic way, and then “rise and fall”.
Fundamentally speaking, the root of social consciousness movement does not come
from itself, but from social existence, that is, people’s social relations determined by pro-
ductivity. For example, when discussing the formation of social psychology, Plekhanov
believed that “social psychology was always subject to its economic purpose, always
suitable for it and always determined by it” [11]715. When talking about the changes of
social psychology, Plekhanov believed that “every new step in the development of pro-
ductive forces put people in the practice of their daily life in a new relationship… This
new and unprecedented situation was reflected in people’s psychology and effectively
294 W. Liu
changes it” [11]719. In fact, this further answers the social and historical reasons why
social psychology and ideological system are often in an “unbalanced” state, as well as
the “integration” of the two, that is, the root of the flow of social ideological trend.
4 “Basic Characteristics” of Social Ideological Trend
4.1 Social Reality
“Consciousness can only be a conscious being at any time, and people’s existence is
their real life process” [5]525. This judgment fundamentally penetrates the “internali-
ty” of consciousness, that is, all consciousness comes from and serves the “process of
human real life” — social reality. Social reality is the real starting point for exploring all
consciousness phenomena. Any abandonment, alienation and weakening of attention to
social reality is bound to put social consciousness and its root causes into “illusion”.
Social ideological trend belongs to the category of social consciousness. There is
no other way to explore its origin except to “people’s real life process”. What is the
most basic thing directly related to “social reality”? In Marx’s opinions, “among these
practical relations, economic relations are of decisive significance, and they constitute
a red line that runs through and is the only one conducive to understanding” [4]668.
Obviously, Marx regarded “economic relations” as a basic existence that ran through the
social reality and was directly related to it. Further, this shows that what directly affects
people’s ideological tendency and psychological situation is “communication relation-
ship” among people determined by “material production”, that is, people’s economic
relationship or material interest relationship. “Because people’s material interest rela-
tionship exists directly and widely in people’s actual social life, which can be intuitively
felt by people, so it is easier for people to make a rapid response in the form of social
ideological trend” [16]. It can be seen that the social ideological trend originates from
the material interest relationship directly related to people’s social life, and is related to
specific social and economic relations.
Therefore, in reality, “people’s social psychology is stimulated by some practical
contradiction or induced by some ideological theory, making it in a floating excitation
situation, venting the hidden emotions, beliefs and customs on the surface, appealing the
long-term precipitated feelings, intentions and requirements to words and deeds immedi-
ately, and making people’s whole thoughts and emotions agitated” [7]. The combination
of this psychological trend and the corresponding ideological viewpoints naturally forms
a social ideological trend with extensive influence and communication power.
4.2 Dynamic Transformation
“People’s consciousness changes with the changes of people’s living conditions, people’s
social relations and people’s social existence” [4]50–51. Of course, the social ideological
trend as a specific phenomenon of consciousness is no exception, which is embodied in
the following aspects.
First of all, social ideological trends change with the change of environment. The
“environment” here refers to the “social and historical conditions” in a certain period,
The Implication of Social Ideological Trend 295
which is composed of the social and economic structure determined by the produc-
tive forces. According to Plekhanov’s understanding, “if the development of productive
forces causes some essential changes in the social and economic structure, the psychol-
ogy of these classes will also change, and the spirit of the times and nationality will
also change” [6]273. Naturally, the social ideological trend combined by specific social
psychology and corresponding ideological theories will also change its form, update its
content, or be finally eliminated.
Secondly, social ideological trends have a process of ups and downs. According
to Liang Qichao’s understanding, a certain social ideological trend “started with little
potential power, rised and reached the full degree, fell after obsolescence, and gradually
declined” [1]1. In short, there are four stages of “enlightenment, heyday, transformation
and recession”. Fundamentally speaking, the reason why social ideological trends show
the characteristics of rise and fall is the dynamic change of its content. Social ideological
trends are the reflection of real social contradictions. In the process that social contra-
dictions are constantly produced and solved with the development of society, social
ideological trends are bound to appear as a process of rising and falling tide.
Finally, the constituent elements of social ideological trends are often in a state
of “surging”. According to the above, social ideological trends mainly include two
components — social psychology and ideology. In different periods, the role of social
psychology and ideology varies. In one stage, there may be more social psychology,
while in another stage, there may be more ideology. In this way, the social ideological
trend will change constantly under the interaction of social psychology and ideology, or
become the spring tide or even the dominant social ideological trend because it meets
the needs of social reality, or gradually disappear because it no longer conforms to the
historical trend.
4.3 Extensive Groupment
“People are the producers of their own ideas, thoughts, etc.” [5]524. Consciousness is of
the person, any social consciousness is a subjective consciousness, and social ideological
trend is a group consciousness produced under certain objective conditions.
Firstly, social ideological trend is based on a continuous mass movement. According
to Liang Qichao’s statement, “all ideological trends of the times were always formed
by continuous mass movements” [1]1. It is clear that the “thoughts” generated by “en-
vironmental changes” are not necessarily “trends”. Only when this kind of “thought”
or “ideological tendency” meets the common interests of a certain group and triggers
a “sustained mass movement”, can a “tide” be formed. Therefore, a “sustained mass
movement” is not only the carrier of a “ideological tendency” into a “tide”, but also a
force to promote the development of the “established” social ideological trend. Once a
mass movement has ceased, the social ideological trend will also recede.
Secondly, social trends are based on the consciousness of large groups of people.
Social ideological trends are not the thoughts, opinions and ideas of a single person and
different from the general group consciousness. And social ideological trend is a kind
of group consciousness with a common social psychology and ideological orientation
and “a group consciousness in large scale with a wide range of subjects, transcending
space-time boundaries, group boundaries and regional boundaries” [14].
296 W. Liu
Finally, social ideological trend is transmitted by diverse groups. In the process of
spreading social ideological trend, it is not confined to one group, but is a consciousness
that encompasses a variety of groups. Social ideological trend is not only a comprehen-
sive reflection of social life, but also a dynamic reflection of social life. This means that
social ideological trend is like a river, gushing and expanding between different groups,
seeking the right soil for it to grow and flourish.
4.4 Political Tendency
“Politics is the concentrated expression of economy” [17]407. “The most important deci-
sive interests of all classes can only be met through fundamental political transformation”
[18]. According to Lenin’s two sentences, the economic interests that have a fundamental
decisive role in a class and stratum are often “concentrated” in politics and finally real-
ized through the path of “political transformation”. Then, the social ideological trend
oriented towards the realization of the interests of specific social groups will show a
distinct political tendency when expressing interest demands.
Material interest is the nerve in people’s social life, widely exists in people’s daily
life and can be directly experienced by people. When there is a major change or transfor-
mation in society, its internal material interest pattern will change accordingly. In order
to protect their own interests and express their demands, different interest groups will
respond quickly in the form of ideological trend. “This direct correlation with real life not
only determines that the social ideological trend has the characteristics of being outspo-
ken and straightforward, but also determines that it must realize the realistic interaction
with social life in the way of social cognition” [19]. In other words, social ideological
trends not only have a more concentrated sense of direction to express interest demands,
but also have a more clear social intervention to realize interest demands.
The fundamental solution of all social problems, especially the problem of material
interests, ultimately comes down to the use of political power. Politics, as the concen-
trated embodiment of economy, is an important way to realize economic interests. If
social ideological trends want to change the current situation or adjust or reform the
current situation to realize the interest demands of specific groups, they will inevitably
be transformed into people’s political behavior at the practical level, that is, to strive
to promote to the center of state power and affect the process of social and historical
development.
Of course, the political orientation of social ideological trends is not exposed all at
once, but increasingly exposed with the gradual expansion of the spread of thoughts.
If it is not effectively contained, it will be strongly expressed in an extremely sharp
form. Therefore, social ideological trends have their own characteristics because of
their different fields, but their common feature is that they are rich in obvious political
tendencies.
5 Conclusion
To sum up, the social ideological trends are the ideological trends that reflect the interests
and requirements of a certain class or stratum in a certain historical period, are based
The Implication of Social Ideological Trend 297
on social psychological resonance, take the ideological system as the core, are widely
disseminated among the masses, and have a significant impact on social life. The social
ideological trends include three important components: the broad social psychological
foundation, the popular ideological and theoretical core, and the dynamic intermediary
fusion mechanism. It is an indispensable prerequisite for deepening the research on the
Internet social ideological trends to clarify these content directions of the network social
ideological trends.
Authors’ Contributions. This paper is independently completed by Wenyi Liu.
References
1. Liang Qichao. Intellectual Trends in the Qing Period [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Classics
Publishing House. 1998. (in Chinese)
2. Yi Xinding. Liang Qichao and Chinese Modern Cultural Thought [M]. Beijing: Capital
Normal University Press, 2009: 166. (in Chinese)
3. Bu Desheng, Deng Zhuoming. Re-understanding of the connotation of social thought [J].
Journal of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications (Social Science Edition),
2006(5). (in Chinese)
4. Collected Works of Marx and Engels (Volume 10) [M]. Beijing: People’s Publishing House.
2009. (in Chinese)
5. Selected Philosophical Works of Plekhanov (Volume 3). Beijing: Sanlian Publishing House.
1962. (in Chinese)
6. Selected Philosophical Works of Plekhanov (Volume 2). Beijing: Sanlian Publishing House.
1961. (in Chinese)
7. Zhang Shujun. On Some Characteristics of Social Thought. China’s Higher Theoretical
Education (Social Science Theory Edition) [J], 1988(2). (in Chinese)
8. Mei Rongzheng. Guide Trends of Thought with Marxism [M]. Wuhan: Wuhan University
Press, 2008: 57. (in Chinese)
9. Xu Qixian. Research on Social Thought. Journal of Anhui University of Science and
Technology (Social Science) [J], 1999(1). (in Chinese)
10. Jiang Zhiqiang, Sun Yuncai. On the Objective Law of Ideological Trend [J]. Journal of Qiqihar
University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), 2005(4). (in Chinese)
11. Selected Philosophical Works of Plekhanov (Volume 1). Beijing: Sanlian Publishing House.
1959. (in Chinese)
12. Zhang Chong (editor-in-chief). Prevention and resolution of extreme social thoughts [M].
Shanghai: Gezhi Publishing House, 2019: 14–15. (in Chinese)
13. Collection of Research on the History of Modern Chinese Thought (Volume 1) [M]. Beijing:
Social Sciences Academic Press, 2005: 4. (in Chinese)
14. Zhang Yizhong. A preliminary study on the definition of social thought [J]. Journal of
Petroleum University, 1993(4). (in Chinese)
15. Xiao Jinquan. On the conception of social thought as a level of social consciousness [J].
Modern Philosophy, 1997(1). (in Chinese)
16. Zhang Shujun. On the mechanism of social thought [J]. Journal of Northeast Normal
University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), 1992(3). (in Chinese)
17. Selected Works of Lenin (Volume 4) [M]. Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1995: 407. (in
Chinese)
298 W. Liu
18. Selected Works of Lenin (Volume 1) [M]. Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1995: 333. (in
Chinese)
19. Dynamic Research and Criticism of Main Contemporary Social Thoughts (Part II) [M].
Beijing: China Social Sciences Press. 2019: 27. (in Chinese)
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/),
which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any
medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source,
provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.
The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter’s Creative
Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not
included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by
statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from
the copyright holder.