The way I understand Ideology is viewing it as a set of beliefs.  Ideology is used especially in terms of politics. These beliefs help us to understand our political views. Ideology can be used as an umbrella term for many things and there are different labels that people can use for the side that they reside with the most. An example of this would be communism, meaning everything is for everyone… a small example of this would be not being able to own private property.

The way I am able to understand ideology the best way is actually looking at it with religion in mind. There are many different religions. In these religious groups, they all have their own system of beliefs. Ideology helps people understand their world and click with the world. When people get together, they know they aren’t alone sharing the same values and beliefs and this helps expand community also.

The way I am able to understand the difference between conservative and liberal ideology in US politics is understanding it by size, that conservatives believe a large government threatens liberty and wants the government to be as small as possible. Liberals believe that there should be no government in our personal day-to-day lives and instead advocate for a more active government role to help make things equal and fair. The big differences from these two are the beliefs that they stand for. The diving line is their view of the government and how it plays a role in society. A clear example of this would be immigration status, we are able to see that most conservatives would support a stricter border system and more ways to remove immigrants from “their home (town/city/etc)”. Most liberals are able to have empathy for families and find it heartbreaking to find out that families get torn apart, women get assaulted and beaten in these camps and even children get involved. We are able to identify that conservatives view it in a power dynamic and liberals see it as a way to advocate for people in need and support them or find a way to rehome those families.

I understand Althusser’s definition of ideology by school. We are able to see schools have children for a span of 7-8 hours throughout 5 days. Within those 5 days, children follow instructions based on the adult in the room. And follows rules. When we see that most children don’t follow these rules the adult threatens to step in with a phone call home, removing you from class…etc. It teaches when doing something wrong, authority and violence will always be there.