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 con- sequence 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 alterna- tion of bottom-up and top-down processes, he does not develop this perspective.