Ideologies and beliefs in Douglass North's theory

This article argues that North does not conceptualise the difference between ideologies as shared beliefs, which arise from shared mental models in consequence of bottom-up processes, and ideologies as views which stimulate top-down institutional processes, by means of which informal norms and existing beliefs are re-oriented. Top-down processes are possible because shared beliefs are characterised by variety and malleability, rather than by a (homogeneous) "cultural heritage". Although in North's theory the reciprocal influence between informal and formal norms is interpretable as an alternation of bottom-up and top-down processes, he does not develop this perspective.