Thus, I will use the term “ideological” to refer to the body of statements which (i) suggests
truth but is at the same time difficult to falsify and even immunize themselves to
falsification, (ii) creates an image that is at least partially false and furthermore, (iii) has
the function of obscuring or affirming certain interests of assignable social groups. So,
my concept of ideology lies between a purely neutral one, which could be replaced by
that of a world view or something similar and a denunciatory-negative variation (as referred
to by Lieber, 1985), which assumes that reality and certain valuations are intentionally
obscured by the dominant parties. The intent to obscure need not be excluded;
however, it is not a required definition attribute of ideology, as a set of statements can
unintentionally produce positive effects for one group (and negative ones for others).8
In the following, I will explain in more detail a few of the aforementioned points
and present the methodical conclusions. First, I will discuss my assumption that it is
necessary to analyse not individual statements, but the body of statements as a whole.
Second, it is necessary to clarify what is meant by empirical HRM research and what
body of statements I am referring to. Third, the relationship between the characteristics
of statements and their effects in a social context must be clarified as statements
have no effect in a social vacuum.
2.3 The collectivity of statements
As previously mentioned, I am concerned with the overall picture that the collective body
of statements of empirical research brought forth. Individual statements play a role
only as elements of the overall picture and must be viewed in context with others.
Empirical results contribute to the formation of a picture of the working world; we
look for patterns, a shape, and in the search for a coherent picture, we also consider
empirical results. Thus, all statements in HRM research can be empirically true in and
of themselves, but still present a false overall picture when certain aspects do not appear
systematically. This means that, in an extreme case, ideology can be based on a
set of statements which are individually true, but the overall picture can be false, i.e. it
does not accurately represent reality. In comparison: assuming we want to create an
“overall picture” of our life and our relationship to our partners, children, etc. and we
would use only photos taken on holiday, Sunday outings and similarly relaxed situations.
With this approach, we would hardly get an accurate picture. Who takes pictures
of themselves and their adversaries in the midst of a marital row or a conflict with
their pubescent children?9 In particular, the fact that at least individual statements of