What to expect
- ‘Big’ questions
- For example, “What are ideas?”, “What is a political ideology?”
- Historic + large explanations
What are ideas?
Ideas are mental representations, thoughts, concepts, or images formed in the mind as a result of cognitive activity, observation, or imagination.
Type: mental representation (thought, concept, or image) Why: cognitive activity, observation, or imagination
What is a political ideology?
The main purpose of this section of the course is to provide students with a sound, ideological framework for their parallel studies of government and politics in the UK and USA, consistent with the synoptic aims of the specification.
- AQA
Features
- Critique of existing order
- Vision of future society
- Theory of political change
Venn Diagram What makes an ideology
Fundamental Ideologies
- LSI - Liberalism and Nationalism
- NRE - Socialism and Conservatism
For each ideology, it holds important differences different:
- View of human nature
- View of society
- View of the state
- View of economy
- Internal differences
Various Ideologies
| ’Classical’ Ideologies | ’New’ Ideologies |
|---|---|
| Liberalism | Feminism |
| Conservatism | Green ideology |
| Socialism | Multicultural |
| Nationalism | Fundamentalism |
| Anarchism | Populism |
| Facism | Postcolonialism |
Linear Spectrum
Suggests that the left and right are the two poles of politics.
Horseshoe Spectrum
Suggests that once an ideology reaches an extreme, they ‘loop around’ to the next extreme.