1.ideology is basically a culmination of values, beliefs and ideas that­­­ shape how individuals and or groups in society interpret society and their world around them. Many groups can have a direct impact on how you draw inferences of your ideology which include social, political, economic, or even culturally. All these groups can have a profound influence on your decision making which ultimately creates your life and worldviews. Two common ideologies most people of today’s society may classify with is liberal and conservative ideologies.

2. As we have come to learn in life, no two things are the same. This case is also true when referring to conservative and liberal ideologies. On the one hand conservative ideology suggests that the large government poses a threat to our individual liberty. They believe in the free market and that everyone has the same 24 hours in the day. In other words, if you are poor and working in the middle class it’s because your either lazy or incapable and it has nothing to do with the actual government. Yet relies on the government to govern anything that can be a threat to their well beings and or wealth, i.e harsher prison sentences, monitoring and surveillance of others less fortunate than them and to protect the assists to their capitalist world views. Also, they believe in a strong defense and support money being poured into the military. Liberals however believe and lean into the aid of the government and firmly believe that they’re here to serve a purpose helping solve societal issues. Liberals understand that the free market the conservatives love so much in fact won’t be fair to everyone. Liberals cherish equality and have deep rooted beliefs in government intervention.

3. Louis Althusser, a French Marxist philosopher, offers a nuanced and influential definition of ideology. There were two apparatus he believed which are Repressive state apparatus and Ideological state apparatus. According to Althusser, ideology is more than just a set of ideas or beliefs it’s an integrated system that plays a crucial role in maintaining social structures and power relations. Althusser uses the concept of interpellation to explain how ideology “hails” or “calls” individuals into social roles. Through interpellation, individuals are positioned within ideological frameworks that define their identity and social function. This process helps individuals recognize themselves as part of a social structure and adhere to its norms and values.

I understood ideology to be an individual’s belief system according to political socialization. Political socialization is essentially the basis by which an individual determines their political stance. There are many factors that influence political socialization; a prominent factor being family. It’s evident that a child’s relationship with their parents can possibly influence their political views. For example, a child who had a generally healthy upbringing will most likely adopt the same political views as their parents while a child who grew up in a toxic household will rebel against their parent’s political views. However, most children grow up to adopt the same political views as their parents. Another crucial factor that affects political socialization is one’s social identity. This includes aspects such as; race, gender, ethnicity, religion, and age. It’s been noted that men are considered to have more conservative views while female values tend to be more liberal. Economic self interest is also a component in determining political stance. An individual is most likely going to align with values that benefit themselves.

Most American’s resonate between two political ideologies. This first includes the Conservative (Right) point of view, while the second includes the Liberal (Left) stance. Conservatism believes in having the smallest government possible. It is said that a large government poses a threat to individual liberty. Instead, conservatives believe in stronger individual state power rather than allocating all strength to the federal government. In doing so, they claim that lower government spending results in lower taxes. Additionally, involvement in the free market and little regulation of big businesses are components of conservative beliefs. Conservatives also believe in having a strong military therefore the government should designate much of their budget to supporting military spending. Traditional values are a crucial forefront to the conservative agenda, specifically Christian values. On the other hand, Liberalism praises a big central government. Much of liberalism was inspired by New Deal policies. Liberalists consider the government to be responsible for social and environmental issues in order to ensure the well-being of all individuals and the planet. The liberal agenda opposes heavy military spending and support tighter gun control. Instead, liberalists believe that government spending should be allocated towards minority groups and that heavier taxes should be placed on the wealthy. Although liberalists support a big government, they do not believe the government should interfere with peoples personal lives. A prominent personal issue that liberalists oppose government involvement in is the right to abortion. Government disengagement in the free market and regulation of big businesses is a key principle of liberalism.

Althusser’s definition of ideology stems from the roots of capitalism. He describes how individuals believe in principles subconsciously due to repressive and ideological intervention. The repressive component is simply described as fear. This includes the implementation of police, prisons, and courts so that people’s beliefs may align with the things that while keep them away from punishment (whether subjectively right or wrong). The ideological principle is broken down into several subcategories describes as apparatuses. These apparatuses trick the individual into investing their intellectually energy into areas that wont make a difference but give them a sense of belonging. In turn, this sense of belonging promotes subservience and obedience (breeds docile individuals). The consumer apparatus entails dressing or owning specific articles to identify with a certain social group. For example, wearing glasses and dressing preppy eludes to the individual belonging to a higher social class while articles of clothing such as ripped jeans imply otherwise. Rather than someone’s income determining social class, a falsified illusion is brought about by materialistic items. Instead of finding ways to elevate in social class (make more money), an individual will feel richer than they are through materialism, therefore not finding the need to elevate, in turn remaining docile. Another apparatus discussed in the entertainment apparatus. The average worker is more likely to identify as a sports fan rather than a worker. Because this worker identifies as a “sports fan”, they will rather attend games than to come together with other workers to protest for higher wages and better rights. By shifting one’s identity to something more entertaining, people are less likely to focus on what really matters. The last apparatus discussed was the school apparatus. This entails the concept that we are subconsciously taught as children what we should believe. Five days a week, 8 hours a day; the school system implements into our heads what should be considered wrong and what should be considered right. The mind of a child is like a sponge, constantly absorbing the stimuli of its environment.

So, we’ve encountered three different overviews of what ideology is, but let’s organize our own thinking about it. In this discussion board, think about and comment on the following questions:

1. Keeping in mind the material covered in this lesson, describe how you understand ideology in your own words.
Hint: One way to approach this is as follows
a) Describe what ideology is in a brief paragraph (in your own words).
b) Give an example illustrating what you wrote in (a).
c) Write another paragraph (or two), explaining to your reader with additional details, how you understand ideology.

2. How do you understand the difference between conservative and liberal ideology in US politics? What seem to be the big differences, the dividing line? Given an example to backup your arguments.
Hint: try to identify key words (concepts) that play a big role in making someone consider themselves to be liberal or conservative. Then, explain in your own words what those keywords (concepts) mean.

3. How do you understand Althusser’s definition of ideology? Paraphrase it in your own words. Given an example. Hint: you may have to watch the second video again, and find the few places where Althusser’s position is presented.

Hint: Remember, the discussion boards are crucial for us this semester, because they reproduce our in-class conversations. Try to be thorough and write more, rather than less. I will do the same, and make sure by the time we end our discussion, we have covered the key ideas on the module.

To organize things better, I have broken up our conversation into two parts. After finishing here, head over to Discussion Board 3 – part 2 .

Before posting, watch this video, which will show you how to post your answer to this discussion board:

NOTE: Once you’ve scheduled your post to be published on at midnight on Sunday, you can still go back and edit your post until then, if you want to rewrite and/or add to your post.

As a review, follow the following steps to submit your response:

1. Click on the “+” button in the black bar at the top of the screen
2. Type a title for the post (it should include your full name)
3. Type your response
4. On the right side, click on Categories: and check “Discussion 3.1”
5. Important: On the right side, at the top: click on the date next to Publish, and enter your post date, which is this coming Sunday, at 11:59pm.
6. Click Publish and you’re done.

What will happen next is your post will automatically be published by the OpenLab system on Sunday at midnight. The goal here is for all student posts to be published at the same deadline. After that point, you can begin reading each others’ posts, and you have to comment on at least one other student’s post.

Note: please make sure that you schedule your post to be published on Sunday, midnight, not before.