POL 101 Responsible Citizenship Political Ideology Political Ideology

POL 101: Responsible Citizenship Political Ideology

Political Ideology I. What is political ideology? II. Generalizations about political ideologies III. Political ideology spectrum IV. How to measure political ideology?

What is political ideology? • Political ideology is a worldview on politics; how much should government be involved in various aspects of our lives. • Political ideology is shaped by our personal, social, and economic views. • Political ideology can changed based on changes in our personal, social, and economic conditions.

Generalizations about political ideology Liberal Conservative Economy Government regulation Laissez-faire (hands off) Social welfare Social and economic causes for poverty Personal choice , self reliance Foreign policy Diplomacy, multi-lateral response Military might, unilateral control Civil Rights Group focus, encompassing Individual focus Morality issues Broad differences in society Traditional family values Focus of federalism National solutions State or local solutions Focus of government Help people remain free to Limited except for do what they want protection from harm

Political Ideology spectrum ---------------------------------------- Socialism Liberalism (Individual Freedom) Centrism Conservatism (Collective safety) Socialism = limited government Liberalism = free choice for personal, government control economy Centrism = somewhere between liberals and conservatives Conservatism = economic freedom, government control personal

How to measure Ideology? • Many arguments made in political science over accuracy of scales. • Is it multi-dimensional? Social and Economic views develop Political views. How different are Social and Economic based on the previous scale? • Polarization of public difficult to gauge; in late 1970 s, many people lacked an ideological stance. Today?

How to measure Ideology? Example of Ideological Scale

How to measure ideology? • What is salient to different people? How do you measure salience? • Is political efficacy related to ideology? • How many questions to determine political ideology?