1. In my view, Ideology is the beliefs that one has about themselves and the society that surrounds them. It is the thoughts and ideas that people have regarding everything that they can think of and can extend to many different topics. Whether it be work ethic, behaviors, characteristics, politics, and what have you, Ideology is something that can extend to practically any topic and allows people to define others through their morals, who they associate with, what they cherish and how they believe they should go about life. An example of an Ideology is a person who believes in the idea that “Might Makes Right.” This person has the idea that those who are strong are the only ones who deserve to be in power and only associate with people that they deem strong, while those who are weak should either perish or submit to the strong and the person goes out of their way to never associate with people that they consider weak. The way that I understand Ideology is that it essentially gives an insight as to what a person’s character may be. It tells you about who they believe in, what they think is good, what they think is bad, what aspects of politics do they think is most important, etc. Now not everyone with the same Ideologies is going to be 1 for 1 the same in every single way, but it does give an idea of what a person is like and what they may value and dislike when it comes to certain topics.
  2. The way that I understand the difference between Liberal and Conservative Ideology in U.S politics is that Liberal Ideology wants a bigger government so that they can help solve bigger problems while Conservative Ideology wants no government since they feel that they are a threat to individual liberty. Some of the big differences between the two is that Liberal Ideology supports government intervention of the economy (especially when that intervention benefits historically marginalized groups like minorities, women and poor), they don’t believe that big businesses have the average American’s best interest at heart and prefer to see them regulated and they favor a progressive tax system with higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations since they know that aiding the poor and expanding civil liberties costs money. An example of liberal Ideology is the left party, since they embody all of the ideas of Liberal Ideology. On the other side, Conservative Ideology believes that the free market will provide the greatest economic opportunity to the greatest number of people, smaller areas where government spending occurs should be left to private sectors so that less government spending happens (meaning less taxes, which is what they want) and that liberty is the most important thing to protect, which the government does not do. An example of Conservative Ideology is the right party, since they embody all of the ideas of Conservative Ideology.
  3. The way that I understand Louis Althusser’s definition of Ideology is that it is a form of status quo that is meant to ensure that all people within a society are compliant with laws and regulations set by those in authority. Those that don’t fall in line with the systems that have been set by the authority will be disciplined via losing their freedoms and ostracized by the society around them. An example of this is that a child who goes to school is taught to listen to those above him, not be disruptive, complete tasks on time and to not rebel. If the child does do anyone of these things, then they’ll most likely be subjugated to disciplinary action by the school (such as detention) and parents (stern talking to, limiting freedoms and potentially even beating them) as well as being ostracized by students (who don’t want to associate with them as to not get in trouble themselves).

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