Video – What is ideology: a basic answer

Watch this video, paying particular attention to how it defines differences between Conservative and Liberal ideology. We will engage with these differences in our class discussion:

Practice study questions

Answer the following questions after you have carefully watched the video above:

  1. If liberty is the primary political virtue for conservatives, for liberals, the primary political virtue is what?
  2. Liberals are different in their political views from conservatives, because they…?
  3. What are some forms of government intervention favored by liberals?
  4. What according to conservatives is harmful in big government?
  5. Why do conservatives support lower spending by government?

What is ideology?: a more complicated (and interesting) answer

Watch this second video on ideology. It introduces a number of key political ideas, which give us a more nuanced, interesting, and realistic understanding of what ideology is:

READ – Reading 3.1: What is ideology?

Read the following excerpt. This reading will form a big part of our in-class discussion.

1592951799-Parenti-excerpt-on-Ideology-1Download

Study questions (to be handed in class)

Study these questions and respond to them in short papers. Papers have to be typed, in paragraph length and brought to class. We will weave your responses in our class discussion, so be prepared to explain, backup, motivate your answers to these study questions:

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.

4. What is a Repressive State Apparatus? Why does Althusser call it “repressive”? Can we explain his choice of words here. Give an example.

5. Let’s do the same for the Ideological State Apparatuses. What are they, how do they seem to work?

6. Important: this question will appear on our exam: How are the Repressive and Ideological State Apparatuses different from each other? What is the difference between the two?

7. Pick an example of ideology: This could be a piece of writing, a visual image, a photo, a song, a building, piece of clothing, a movie clip. Bring it up in class…

Hint: Remember, the study questions are crucial for us this semester, because they ground 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.