• a) Describe what ideology is in a brief paragraph (in your own words).
      • Ideology is a system of ideas that is agreed upon by a group of people. The ideas can be beliefs or values that serve the purpose of explaining, evaluating, orientating or prescribing. Ideologies are used to explain social events and conditions and also give people a place in society by providing them a sense of identity.
    • b) Give an example illustrating what you wrote in (a).
      • America is a capitalist country where it is understood that people can own assets and produce goods and services with the intention of generating profits in a free market. The set of ideas/beliefs that people are inherently selfish and that free markets are the most efficient generator of wealth are what drive capitalism.
    • c) Write another paragraph (or two), explaining to your reader with additional details, how you understand ideology.
      • I understand ideologies as road maps that people who share common beliefs can decide to follow in society that aid in determining what they should do with their beliefs based on commonality in their ideas. A great example of this are the 2 major political parties of America in Democratic and Republican parties.
    • I understand the difference between conservative and liberal ideology in US politics. Both based on the role of government and freedom. Liberals generally believe the government should take an article role for solving social problems and economic problems, for instance privately, health care access and discrimination. The opposite of conservative are believe government should be limited and individuals and free markets are more capable of effectively addressing these issues. 
    • Key words of ideologies include freedom, equality, and tradition. Liberals may require government support due to conservatives freedom from government interference. Liberals are usually more willing to accept social change while conservatives tend to value tradition and stability. For example is health care: Liberals frequently support government involvement to make sure everyone has health care insurance but conservatives are willing to accept private, market based solutions.
  3. .
    • Althusser’s definition of ideology is the means to answer the question of how to get people to act against their own self interests – Accepting beliefs that you believe without consciously knowing that you believe them so that you feel you belong in society. Ideology makes you feel like you have a choice and responsibility in the society that you live in and leads you away from considering inequalities or acting against them.

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