I1.

Ideology is ones beliefs of right and wrong and how they are reflected in our political system. For example, many conservatives believe that living a gay lifestyle is wrong and that is strongly reflected in their lack of support for gay marriage, whereas liberals on the other hand believe that it is wrong to keep consenting adults of any gender from being able to access the benefits of marriage, and therefore are pro it. Now, even though I used the words conservative and liberal, I do not use them in a way that is interchangeable with Republican and Democrat. It is important to recognize that a Republican can be more liberal leaning, and there are many conservative Democrats.

Essentially, I understand ideology to be ones chosen political believes that are usually deeply influenced by their moral compass.

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.

The main difference between conservative and liberal ideology in US politics is that conservatives are more concerned with individual freedoms, where as liberals are more concerned with equality.

The dividing line between these two ideologies is that they both hold the other in contempt. Conservatives believe that Liberals are morally wrong, not for desiring equality, but for the way they choose to get there. They believe that liberals desire to take away rights from an individual and use “positive discrimination” to get equality of outcome between different groups, which in turn creates inequality between individuals. On the other hand, liberals believe that conservatives are selfish and uncaring. They feel that the wealth disparities between different groups are due to inequality and the only way to solve this is to create and environment that promotes the uplifting of the disadvantaged, even if it might impede on some individual rights since these individuals might have benefited from an unjust system.

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.

Althusser’s believes that ideology makes people act against their self interest. He mentions that religion was used during slavery times to keep slaves and surfs from rebelling, which would have been in their best interest. Ideology is essentially used to control us and society at large.