Competing political ideologies that are antagonistic to one another can work well, or well enough, in settings in which there is no effective exit option. Legislatures and courts epitomize such settings. On the other hand, a competition between such antagonistic ideologies will not work well in firms, families, comunity groups, and other settings in which entry and exit tend to be flexible and close day-to-day cooperation between colleagues, family members, and group members is crucial.
Is there a substitute for conventional political ideologies that would have some of the benefits that these ideologies bring--such as keeping people on their toes and motivating them to care about the preferences of "swing voters" or more generally uncommitted people--without the deep flaws that such ideologies have in non-government, non-compulsory settings? One idea: Men and women, and a whole complex of traits, principles, and characteristics culturally associated with maleness and femaleness, are interdependent and simultaneously cooperative and competitive. "Maleness" and "femaleness" in the form of constructed sides in everyday life settings that are not limited to people of any one gender or position present a possible way to benefit from the energizing effect of competing values that also cooperate better than, say, liberalism and conservatism. Value competition is useful--but it's also necessary to avoid having people in intimate settings be torn apart from one another by the divisive features of conventional ideological competition.
