2 POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES

At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:

1. Identify the basic tenets of major political ideologies
2. Differentiate the political ideologies
3. Examine the relationship between political ideologies and configurations of political communities
4. Critique ideas that have a direct impact on how we try to manage ourselves as a political
community
5. Analyze how political ideologies impact on the social and political life of Filipinos

Cite three political theories or ideologies that you know and write a brief explanation of each
theories or ideologies, Write your answer in your notebook.

Social Sciences are fields of study that are filled with theories and ideologies, and these will serve
as a foundation in studying politics and governance.
This lesson presents ideologies such as Capitalism, Communism, Marxism, Marxism-Leninism,
Socialism, Conservatism, Liberalism, Libertarianism, Fascism, and Anarchism. Knowing and
understanding these political, social, and even economic ideologies will help us understand better how
the politics and governance works in the society.

The goal of every government is to mobilize its citizens to achieve a common end, that is, the
welfare of the state as a whole. As a guide, governments use ideologies to help them consolidate the
support of their constituents. It is also through ideology that civil societies go against oppressive
governments.1

Political Ideology is a comprehensive set of beliefs and attitudes about social and economic
institutions and processes. It is an ethical set of ideals, principles, and doctrines of a social institution,
like government, that explains how society and government should work. Political Ideology will serve as
a guide or a blueprint to the government how they should manage the state, and how the economy and
society will work.

Following are some of the classical and modern political (and can be economic and social)
ideologies that are widely used by different nations;

1. CAPITALISM: It is an ideology where private actors are allowed to own and control the use of
property depending on their own interest. In this ideology, people are allowed to establish their
own property, mostly businesses, and gain profit.

This kind of ideology, however, received negative remarks because others see it as a form of
inequality, wherein one class will work (the proletariat) and receive small wages, but it is the
capitalist or the bourgeoisie who will receive the larger benefit or money.

1
R.A. Pawilen and Reidan M. Pawilen. (2017) Philippine Politics and Governance, Quezon City, REX Printing Company Inc., 9.

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 Since in capitalism, people, as
long as you are able to, have the
freedom to own and control their
own business, the role of the
government in a capitalist country
is to maintain peace, justice, and
impose tolerable taxes to private
companies and individuals.

Capitalism. source: https://fee.org/articles/4-common-capitalism-myths-debunked/

2. COMMUNISM: This is a social,
political, and economic ideology and movement whose ultimate goal is the establishment of the
communist society, which is a socioeconomic order structured upon the common ownership of
the means of production and the absence of social classes.

Communism is when all manufacturing or “means of production” are equally owned by all the
members of a state. The intended result of this ideology is to eliminate the capitalist inspired class
system where one class does all work and the other gets all the money. Cuba, Laos, and North
Korea can be considered as communist-like states.

3. MARXISM: This ideology is a common form of communism

which was founded by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxism
believed that the exploitation of the worker should be abolished
because it is a form of inequality.

4. MARXISM-LENINISM: A political ideology that supports the

idea of a one-party state and opposes capitalism. Since this ideology
was governed by a one-political party, this is often viewed by some
as dictatorial since the decision making was vested in a single
supreme ruler.
Karl Marx. source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/

5. SOCIALISM: An ideology that is based on collective or governmental ownership and democratic

management of the essential means of the production and distribution of goods. 2

This ideology desires to eliminate social classes by providing the basic needs of the people,
equally. The population collectively owns and controls the means of production, and distributes
the end results proportionally to the population. Basic needs such as housing, health care, and
education are equally distributed to the people regardless of their social status. There is an equal
share in profit and property for the people.

6. CONSERVATISM: It is characterized by a resistance to change, adherent to limited human

freedom as it chooses to maintain traditional values, and distrust to human reasoning and nature.
3
This ideology doesn’t like the idea of social change, unless it is absolutely necessary.
Conservatives however, isn’t against change completely, but rather it believes that change that
will happen in the country should be a gradual change or “organic change”

Government’s responsibility in this kind of ideology is to be the servant of the existing culture and
politicians must resist the temptation to transform society and politics.

On a 2016 study conducted by MoveHub based on World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report,
the Social Progress Index, and the Environmental Performance Index, following are the top 5

2
Danilo L. Tancangco. (2017) The Philippine Political Thought. Quezon City. Cronica BookHaus. 28.
3
L.T. Sargent. (2009) Contemporary Political Ideologies: A Comparative Analysis. Canada.

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 conservative nations in the world: (1) Yemen, (2) Mali, (3) Iran, (4) Pakistan, and (5) Chad, these
conservative nations are characterized by a high gender gap and poor education system. 4

7. LIBERALISM: The term liberalism came from the Latin word liber that means “free”. Liberalism
is the opposite of conservatism as it favors change in the society, and it prefers more freedom.
This ideology is based and founded on ideas of liberty and equality which John Locke’s Social
Contract supported, “Each man has a natural right to life, liberty, and property” and these rights
should not be violated by the government.

Liberalism is centered on the individual freedom, that the individual should have as much as
personal freedom as possible, providing their freedom does not affect anyone else other than the
individual.

Some of the ideas followed by liberalism are the following: (1) freedom of speech, (2) freedom of
religion, (3) freedom of the press, (4) free markets, (5) civil rights, (6) democratic societies, (7)
free election, and (8) international cooperation, in which are present in our nation, Philippines.

Government, in this ideology, should be responsible to ensure all citizens have access to
affordable health care, quality education, clean environment, and social safety net programs. In
terms of the free market, the government should maintain that there are no monopolies and unfair
contracts in the market.

Based on study, following are the top 5 liberal nations: (1) Iceland, which is known to have the
smallest gender gap, (2) Finland ranked high health and safety, (3) Sweden with high ranked in
gender equality, followed by (4) Norway, and (5) New Zealand5.

8. LIBERTARIANISM: It is a political ideology which advocates minimizing coercion or force, and

emphasizes freedom, liberty and voluntary association. Libertarian stresses social freedom like
right to marriage and abortion, drug legalization, and gun rights. It promotes a society with
significantly less government.

Since libertarianism advocates a minimal role of the government, this ideology believes that the
only function of the government is to protect its citizens from being injured or defrauded. This
philosophy is called “night-watchman state” wherein the government’s power is limited to military,
police force, and courts systems – all focused on safety and security of the people. In terms of
economy, libertarianism promotes free market capitalism and the removal of taxes.

9. FASCISM: An ideology that is nationalist, authoritarian, and militaristic. Fascism is a political

ideology and movement that exalts nations and often races above the individual and that stands
for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader.

With the goal of being an independent state, in terms of economy, countries with fascist mindset
advocates that big private businesses should serve and promote national interest and foreign
trade are banned to avoid being independent with other countries. Noted fascist in history are
Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.

10. ANARCHISM: It is a political ideology which rejects the concept of government and highly
centered on the belief in personal freedoms. It is a state of being without any government and
authority to govern the people. Anarchists rejected hierarchical systems, they believed in shared
ownership of industry and resources.

While most people are familiar with how anarchy is popularly used to mean chaos due to the
nonexistence of control mechanisms, the idea behind it is actually more on peaceful coexistence

4
World Population Review. Most Conservative Nations. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-conservative-countries. Accessed
04January2021.
5
World Population Review. Most Liberal Nations. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-liberal-countries. Accessed 04January2021

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 and equality. Anarchists believe that since power
corrupts, a better system based on voluntary
cooperation and not on power relations should be
established and that this system will address the
needs of the people more successfully. 6
Anarchism is anti-state asserting that all
hierarchical power structures like the government
are corrupt.

The use of Political Ideology is not limited to the

people in the government, but even individuals have their Anarchists.
own ideology in terms of politics, society, and economy of source: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/anarchy-explained

the state. That is why, in some countries, we can observe

that there is a division in terms of their perception of how the government should work – there are some
groups of people who are pro-government, there are people also who are against the government.

Political Scientists use an indicator to identify the position of an individual concerning his/her
political view, whether a person is pro or against the status quo, we can identify their political position
through the political spectrum. According to the dictionary, political spectrum refers to a range of political
positions or opinions that exist from the progressive left wing to the conservative right wing. 7

This kind of system was first practiced during the French Revolution wherein representatives
sitting on the left side (commoners or antis) of the king wanted change in the monarchy and those
representatives sitting on the right side (aristocrats) wanted to maintain the established order – that leads
to the creation of the political spectrum.

Below is the illustration of the political spectrum for you to understand better;

EXTREME LEFT LEFT MODERATE RIGHT EXTREME RIGHT

LEFT (Radicals) RIGHT (Conservatives)

- Support redistribution of wealth for greater
social-equality and government intervention
- Believe that government can play a positive
role managing the economy and creating jobs
- Believe that government services such as
education and healthcare are valuable
- Believe that higher taxes or going into debt may
be necessary to ensure these services are
adequate
- They support government regulations to
achieve societal goals
- Less likely to support reform on social issues
and prefer preservation of traditions,
established values, and religious norms.
- On economic issues, smaller government is
the best approach with less government
influence on the economy and fewer
government services.
- They believe taxes should be low and debt
should be avoided.
- Often likely to support regulation on
businesses because they believe the free
market provides sufficient incentives to
businesses to achieve important social or
environmental goals.

The political spectrum was used to characterize different values and actions on political issues.
People who call for progressive change in the state and in the status quo can be found in the left wing
of the spectrum (can be extreme left or left wing). People who have no neutral opinion about political
matters can be found in the middle of the spectrum (moderates), and lastly, those who are pro status

6
L.T. Sargent. (2009) Contemporary Political Ideologies: A Comparative Analysis. Canada.
7
Dicitionary. Political Spectrum. https://www.dictionary.com/e/politics/political-spectrum/. Accessed 03January2021.

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quo or call for the preservation of the status quo can be found in the right side of the spectrum (can be
extreme right or right wing).

1. Ideologies serve as a blueprint for society on how the government will work to serve the people
in terms of the political, social, and economic area of the state.
2. Every nation follows different ideologies depending on the needs of the state, ideologies can be
any of the following: Capitalism, Communism, Marxism, Marxism-Leninism, Socialism,
Conservatism, Liberalism, Libertarianism, Fascism, and Anarchism.
3. The political spectrum was used to characterize different values and actions on political issues
(Radical Leftists, Moderates, and Conservative Rightists)

- END OF MODULE 1 -
Great job world changer :)

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