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Obviously the verb join refers conventionally to a group of people, but what about ideologies? Can you ‘join veganism’? Or ‘join communism?’

A quick search showed me that this collocation is far from common, but is it outright wrong? The justification I can think of is that an ideology metonymically refers to the people who believe in it. Dictionaries don't seem to answer the question.

KillingTime
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Arihol
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    What do you mean by "outright wrong"? It's grammatical and the meaning can probably be intuited. On the other hand, as you've seen, it's rarely used. What other kind of information would answer the question one way or the other? – Juhasz Dec 10 '21 at 21:58
  • Think about the last word in the name of this group. Many things appear “wrong” to native speakers, not because they are ungrammatical, but because they do not conform with common usage. This changes over time, but at the moment… – David Dec 10 '21 at 22:49
  • Other verbs are available depending on the nature of the relationship such as: subscribe/adhere to, practice, believe in, admire. – DjinTonic Dec 10 '21 at 22:51
  • ... follow, accept ... – Stuart F Dec 11 '21 at 00:37
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    You can only join groups of people. Ideologies are not groups of people. – John Lawler Dec 11 '21 at 01:05
  • You could "join the vegetarians" in the family, but that's joining (with) people, not the concept. – DjinTonic Dec 11 '21 at 01:08
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    It is acceptable, however, to join a friend for lunch. – Xanne Dec 11 '21 at 01:31

2 Answers2

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The word ideology is defined by Merrriam Webster as:

1 a : a manner or the content of thinking characteristic of an individual, group, or culture

b : the integrated assertions, theories and aims that constitute a sociopolitical program

c : a systematic body of concepts especially about human life or culture

2 : visionary theorizing

None of these definitions describes a group of people or a movement which makes the idea of 'joining and ideology' not 'wrong' but meaningless.

One can subscibe to or adopt an ideology or join an ideological group or a movement which promotes a given ideology but there is no sense in which one can join an ideology any more than one can join a set of religious beliefs or political theories. One can join a religion or a political party but not its defining concepts. The same thing applies to ideologies, they are abstract conceopts not groups of people.

BoldBen
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"Join communism" is found, but it is clear that people had rather use this verb according to its usual meaning ; this is shown in the ngram.

(SOED) join III Come into contact, contiguity, company or union. 14 v.tr. & i. Become a member of (a society, an organization, etc.).

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This pattern repeats itself for « fascism/the fascists », except that the new usage is comparatively stronger.

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There seems to exist no definition of « join » that is compatible with the concept of ideology, doctrine, idea, etc.

The expression « join a religion » is used, as religion has the meaning "religious order" which connotes that of "organization". However the following are not found.

  • join a doctrine, join an ideology, join christianism,join veganism,join naturism,join nudism,join militarism, masonism, isolationism, Maoism, Trotskyism, Leninism,

It appears that there has been in the last century the coming into being of a new meaning for "join" which has not yet been acknowledged by lexicographers, and perhaps will never be.

The idea of more or less gradually becoming a supporter of an idea, doctrine, ideology, political line of thinking, or religion is rendered faithfully and generally enough by the following verbal expression.

became a convert to communism (examples)

LPH
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