{"id":13598,"date":"2026-09-18T21:39:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T01:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0502-fall-2026-american-government\/?p=13598"},"modified":"2026-09-18T21:44:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T01:44:04","slug":"what-is-ideology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0502-fall-2026-american-government\/2026\/09\/18\/what-is-ideology\/","title":{"rendered":"What is ideology?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1. What is ideology?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think ideology is basically a person’s beliefs about how society and government should work. It is the way someone thinks about different political and social issues and what they believe the government should or should not do. I also think ideology is something that can be influenced by the environment a person grows up in. For example, our family, school, religion, friends, and even things we see in the media can influence the way we think about politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if someone grows up in a family where everyone believes that the government should help people who are struggling, that person might grow up believing that government programs are important. On the other hand, someone who grows up hearing that people should be responsible for themselves and that the government should stay out of people’s lives might develop a different political ideology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After watching the video, I understood ideology as more than just choosing whether you are a Democrat or Republican. People can have different opinions on different issues, and they don’t always fit perfectly into one political category. Someone might agree with liberals on one issue but agree with conservatives on another issue. I think ideology gives us a general idea of how someone views government, freedom, equality, the economy, and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Conservative and liberal ideology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way I understand the difference between conservatives and liberals is that one of the biggest differences is how they view the role of government. Conservatives generally believe that government should be more limited and that individuals should have more freedom to make their own choices. Liberals generally believe that government should have a more active role in society and can be used to help solve problems and create more equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the key words I noticed from the lesson are liberty, equality, and government<\/strong>. Conservatives put a lot of importance on liberty<\/strong>, meaning individual freedom and having less government control over people’s lives. Liberals put more emphasis on equality<\/strong> and believe that the government can sometimes step in to make opportunities more equal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, when it comes to taxes, conservatives generally support lower taxes because they believe people should be able to keep more of their own money. Liberals are generally more supportive of higher taxes, especially when the money can be used for government programs and services. Another example is government regulation. Liberals are more likely to support regulations if they believe they protect people or the environment, while conservatives are more likely to be concerned that too much regulation gives the government too much power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the biggest dividing line is really about how much government should be involved in people’s lives<\/strong>. Conservatives tend to be more concerned about government becoming too large and threatening individual liberty, while liberals are more comfortable with government taking an active role when they believe it can help society. At the same time, I don’t think every liberal or conservative agrees on everything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Althusser’s definition of ideology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Althusser’s definition of ideology is a little different from just saying that ideology is someone’s political beliefs. Althusser argues that ideology can shape how people see themselves and the world around them. A lot of the time, we don’t even realize that these ideas are influencing us because they can seem completely normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One example I thought of is school. From a young age, we are taught to go to school, listen to teachers, follow rules, raise our hands, do our assignments, and be responsible students. After doing these things for years, they just become normal to us. We don’t usually stop and ask why we are expected to behave this way. According to Althusser, institutions like schools can help shape how people understand their role in society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another example could be our family. Our parents can teach us what they think is right or wrong, what kind of job we should have, how we should behave, or what they think a successful life looks like. As we get older, we might accept some of these ideas as normal without realizing where they originally came from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The part about Althusser that stood out to me is that ideology can influence us without us always noticing it. It is not necessarily someone directly telling us what to believe. Instead, different institutions and experiences can shape the way we think about ourselves and society. So, I understand Althusser’s definition as ideology being something that helps shape our identity and our understanding of what is considered normal or expected in society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. What is ideology? I think ideology is basically a person’s beliefs about how society and government should work. It is the way someone thinks about different political and social issues and what they believe the government should or should not do. I also think ideology is something that can be influenced by the environment…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12280,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discussion-board-3-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0502-fall-2026-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0502-fall-2026-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0502-fall-2026-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0502-fall-2026-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12280"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0502-fall-2026-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13598"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0502-fall-2026-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13599,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0502-fall-2026-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13598\/revisions\/13599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0502-fall-2026-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0502-fall-2026-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0502-fall-2026-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}