1.Ideology is accepting beliefs that you believe in without knowing you believe in them. Ideology is the way you think about yourself, and others in the society you live in. Your political beliefs contribute to this century’s ideology. It’s meant to keep you in the group you were born in. Even though ideology now has many different factors that can change our views. Between school, social media, and entertainment.
Ideology in my opinion is knowing what you believe in, and always allowing yourself to grow, and question those beliefs you grew in. Our social construct and culture determine the ideology we believe in.
2. Conservative ideology is meant to help themselves. They believe that the government should be a small group of people cause the larger it is, the less they trust them. They also believe that the government would be better off being run by the states and localities. This is meant to control the population better and keep themselves in control of the country. They want lower taxes, better nation defense, but when it comes to things like schools and other resources citizens need should have their budgets reduced. Liberals on the other hand, believe the government should be able to solve societies problem. Liberals believe in regulations in the economy, that taxing the rich is the right thing. Higher taxes mean helping the environment and those in need. Liberals want everyone to have the same rights, to have the same resources.
The dividing line between them is humanity. Conservatives are more prone to want regulations against things that don’t benefit them, like cutting funds into public schools knowing their kids go to private schools. Liberals want to tax the rich, then conservatives want less taxes because it means more money in their pockets.
3. I agree with Althussers definition of ideology. His ideology shows us how we are meant to stay in the society we are born in without us even knowing it. The need for us to be accepted and longing for a group will drive us to keep those same beliefs we have. It’s a very capitalist ideology. Those of conservative ideology are mostly born into money, and Christian religion. Liberal’s ideologies are those of low income communities which makes them sympathize with everyone. For fear of being shamed, and turned away from the individual will keep the same ideology. There are things like school that will teach you discipline, that you will use in later life. They control us into being good citizens from when we are little kids. If we don’t follow those ideologies, things like police, courts and even prison come into consideration. It’s honestly a way to control us all.
Hi Michelle! I find your response to question 2 very interesting, specifically in calling the dividing line between conservatives and liberals “humanity.” I think you hit the nail on the head that they do not support things that do not outwardly benefit them and are less likely to support things that benefit someone else, such as your example about wanting less support for public schools because their children may be in private schools. That being said, I think conservatives still believe they are supporting what is best for people, but because they are looking at it on a smaller, self-centric scale, it comes off as if they may not be supporting of others. I wish the readings from module 3 went a bit more into the social justice beliefs, because have friends who are very socially “liberal,” but still fiscally conservative with a dislike for the national government making decisions “for them,” that come from families with the same ideology. While there are those who are not supportive of rights for all or things that benefit others, there may be a divide in humanity between conservatives, too.