Classical to Modern

Political Ideologies
Lesson 2
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Outline of Unit

Identify the basic tenets of major

political ideologies

Differentiate political ideologies

Identify the relationship between

political ideologies and configurations of
political communities.
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WHAT IS
‘IDEOLOGY’?
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ISM’s!

We are basically going

to be looking at many
of the words ending
in
–ism, such as
conservatism,
Liberalism,Marxism,
Anarchism ,
Libertarianism etc.
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What is ideology?
•is basically defined as
political statements that aim
to call upon massive mass or
government action to achieve
a relatively better political
and economic condition.
Different Political Scientists
and Philosophers through time
from the Classical to the
Modern period.
Frederick
Watkins
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Core themes

CONSERVATIS
M
as the name implies, one is focused on
conserving something.
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Conservatism: Core themes

Central beliefs of conservatism

are based around the ideas
of:
• tradition
• human imperfection
• organic society
• hierarchy and authority
• property
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Conservatism: Tradition

•Conservatives argue for the preservation of

„tradition‟, in particular with regards to
values, practices and institutions

•They see tradition as being one of the

foundations of society; without it, they
believe society would crumble.
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Conservatism: Humans are imperfect
Conservatives argue that human beings
are imperfect and not perfectible, thus
they will need stability and security in
their lives, which the government can
provide
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Conservatism: Organic society

Conservatives believe that human beings

cannot exist outside of society, or the social
groups that nurture him/her, such as family,
friends, colleagues, local community, and the
nation
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Conservatism: Hierarchy and authority

Believe that society

is hierarchical, and
that authority
(who is on top or
in charge)
develops naturally
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Conservatism: Property
•Conservatives have a firm belief
in the importance of owning
property, and encourage private
savings and investment in
property; property is seen to be
a way of creating a stable world.
•People are less likely to
damage someone else‟s
property if they also own
property.
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Core themes

LIBERALISM

it can be said that liberalism is the opposite of

conservatism for it favors change, prefers more freedom,
and has a more optimistic approach to human reasoning
and nature.
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This ideology is in a sense the ideology of the

‘industrialised West’
It has a focus on a particular set of values: the
individual,
freedom, reason, justice, toleration
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Liberalism: The Individual

Liberalism emphasises the

importance of the individual, both
the uniqueness of each individual
and at the same time the equality
of all individuals.
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Liberalism: The Individual

Thus, liberalism emphasises a commitment

to individual freedom. This does not mean
though, that an individual is free to do
whatever they like. There are still
constraints on what you are actually
allowed to do, one constraint being that
you are not allowed to hurt another
individual.
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Liberalism: Faith in
reason

Having faith in reason, or

the ability to use one‟s
intellect in taking action in
the world, is also a
central component
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Liberalism: Justice and

tolerance
•Liberals look at justice in that each
person should be given what they are
„due‟.
•Because individual rights are central, this
means that liberalism believes in tolerance
and pluralism, or the idea that different
moral, cultural and political cultures can
exist together.
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Where can I see evidence of liberalism today?

Everywhere! Have a look around,

and you will see that the ideas of
liberalism are central to our lives.
What examples of liberalism can
you find just by looking at your
school?
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Liberalism vs. Conservatism

This is one of the oldest ideological
divisions.

Watch the above video to identify some stereotypical liberal and conservative
traits.
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Liberalism vs. Conservatism

Can you make a list of the

differences between liberalism
and conservatism? Why would
they be opposed to one
another?
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Core themes

MARXISM

one should be careful in branding communism, socialism or any

other similar ideologies as Marxists because they may not
necessarily reflect the ideas of Karl Marx although these
ideologies might find their roots in the tenets proposed by
Marx.
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Core Themes

• Alienation
• Class Struggle
• Materialism
• Revolution
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Alienation

•this is the relationship between

two or more people or parts of
oneself in which one is cut off
from, a stranger or alien, the
others.
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Class Struggle

•Karl Marx also noted the struggle

between the bourgeoisie(the capitalist
or middle class) and the
proletariat(workers).
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Materialism

Marxism and the offshoots of this ideology

offer a complex perspective and usage of
materialism.
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Revolution

almost all theories and ideologies

related to Marxism consider
proclaiming revolution as the way
to change the system.
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Core themes

ANARCHISM

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 and equality.
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Anarchism

teaches that we can live in

a society where there is no
compulsion of any kind.
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Anarchism

•The defining feature of anarchism is its opposition to the

state and the institutions of government and law
•Their main argument against authority is that they see
authority as being an offence against the principles of
freedom and equality
•They believe in a natural goodness of humans, and that
without a state governing humans would naturally fall into
a state of cooperation with one another.
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Core themes

LIBERTARIANISM
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Libertarianism
• this
is another
version of anarchism
but involves the
government in a
minimal role such as
ensuring the safety
of everyone and
fairness in whatever
contracts or
dealings.
Thank you for listening