The primary function of society is to harness the energies of the individual for collective ends.
The philosophies through which they point back to the individual, and the way that individuals acquiesce to it, determines the social compact, and the social features that flow from it.
Insofar as the individual identifies with the collective ends, he is imbued with a notion of purpose and progress. Ideology is primarily a means of generating identifications and hence teleological constructs that align self with society. However, the loss of identification generates alienation.
Modern progress is thus a means of generating ideological legitimacy through inclusion. The terms by which inclusion is measured is generated within the ideology itself.
But legitimacy referred to here is short term legitimacy, not long term legitimacy. That must be provided through philosophical incorporation, the evolution of ideology.
This applies not only to modern institutions, but also to development as such. For example, the religious tolerance of Ottomans as examples of development of a civilization.
Institutions are the embodiment of the interactions between the trinity of culture, ideology, and political ideas. The ability to judge the relative importance of different frames in the assessment of events is crucial to understanding the world.
