- Ideology is a set of beliefs or values that influence how an individual makes decisions, interacts with society, and how someone might view and understand the world around them. Ideology can also influence people’s perspectives in many aspects especially politically. An example of ideology is how someone’s political beliefs or stance can influence their views on bigger issues like aid for people with lower incomes, higher taxation on the rich, the amount of government involvement. Liberals are all for aid for lower income groups, and higher taxation on the rich. Meanwhile, conservatives want to lower the amount the rich get taxed and get rid of aid to any lower income groups as they believe they don’t need it.
Using my understanding of ideology, I would describe it as a sort of lens in which people view the world around them that also helps them pick their stance on world issues, by deciding what’s more important to them and their values as a person. Different types of ideologies can show different perspectives on just one issue. This also leads to separating people into different groups specifically politically. For example, in “Michael Parenti’s “Democracy for the Few” on page 52 it states ” conservative ideology preaches the virtues of private initiative and self-reliance: rich and poor pretty much get what they deserve; people are poor not because of inadequate wages and lack of economic opportunity but because they are lazy, profligate, or incapable” while on the other hand on page 54 it describes liberal ideology as “many liberals see a need for improving public services and environmental protections; they support minimum wage laws, unemployment insurance, and other wage supports, along with Social Security, nutritional aid for needy children, occupational safety, and the like.” As you can see these two examples show two different political ideologies on the same issue.
2. I understand the difference between conservative and liberal ideology in US politics simply by seeing their names and what I already know about the meanings behind them. To conserve something means to either save or protect it. Conservatives prioritize tradition and trying to conserve it. Liberal is a word that is very similar to liberty which means the freedom to act and express yourself without any restraints which in this case would mean governmental restraint. Liberals prioritize social equality so that people of different race, religion, sexuality and social status groups can be free in the sense of being able to express themselves and have the same opportunities as everyone else. Some words or concepts that play a big role in making someone consider themselves either conservative or liberal would-be tradition, government regulation, self- reliance, and human services. Tradition is a way of think or doing something that has been used by a specific group of people/ society for a really long time. Politically this would mean instead of progressing we would just stay in our old ways. Government regulation is the process in which a government creates and enforces rules to control their certain behaviors or activities going on in the world. This typically has to do with health, safety, environmental, or public interest issues. Conservatives don’t believe the government should be as involved while liberals believe they should be. Self-reliance means to rely on one’s own resources instead of anybody else’s. Conservatives don’t believe in what they refer to as “handouts” for the lower-class group since they believe everyone is responsible for the social class they are in while liberals are supportive of any type of help from the government for anyone who is struggling. Human services refer to a field that aims its focus on improving the well-being of others especially those in need by providing them with aid and support like food, shelter, and even healthcare. These words/concepts helped me better my understanding of both ideologies due to the different views both political groups have on those ideas and whether they either support them or are completely against them.
