My New Political Ideology Essay

While taking the course Contemporary Public Issues, I have gained a vast amount of knowledge on the subject of political ideologies and have seen the different ideologies explained, criticized, and commended from several diverse viewpoints as I participated in the class discussions and read the selected course readings. These readings and class discussions have greatly influenced my ideological preferences. After evaluating the assigned course readings and reflecting on the class discussions that were held, I have come to the conclusion that I possess both liberal and conservative ideological preferences including: government action should take place to ensure equal opportunity, change should happen slowly over time, and religion should be a private issue. Although I possess both liberal and conservative ideological preferences, I feel that I lean more towards liberal tendencies when it comes to

While there are many hypotheses and theories as to why education is important for democratic citizens, there is common and consistent agreement within the literature since the 1970s. There is consistency in the belief that education provides both the skills to become politically engaged and the knowledge to understand and accept democratic principles leading to correlative effects on party identification on both individual and aggregate levels (Golebiowska 1995; Galston 2004). Angus Campbell and Philip E. Converse (1972) describe education as the universal solvent, strongly and positively correlated with a host of valued civic attitudes and behaviors such as political party or ideology formation.

Political science is known to be one of the most ignored sciences there are. Over the years, there has not been a demand for everyone to pay attention to politics because people always have their own opinion anyways. Ten Things Political Scientists Know that You Don’t was an article written by Hans Noel. His main objective to writing this was to inform readers of the reasons why politics is something that is important to understand. Many journalists and bloggers became more aware of politics and want to know more about what political scientists actually know. This article also wants to inform many people that political science is something that you can study over a period of time, which is the real reason to pay attention to elections. Hans Noel came up with 10 different things that political scientists know but American citizens do not.

Gross and a colleague of his, Solon Simmons, enacted a study to update previously conducted research to modern standards (pp. 34-41). They examined preferences, values, and historical tendencies. The results led to Gross’s creation of the “political identity” approach for academics that he relies on throughout the remainder of his book (p.39). He found the majority of professors, in reality, did identify with the left side of the political spectrum. However, this taxonomy can be further broken down. Marxists, progressives, and centrist-democrats all account for the larger label of “democrat,” with most of them belonging to the progressive category. This liberalism, by American standards, is more lenient toward change and social equality. Why does this liberal concentration exist and what does it mean for students?

My political standpoints are influenced countless factors throughout my life; political socialization is “the process by which people acquire political beliefs and values” (CITATION 119). However, I would consider myself to be ignorant towards most political news or issues happening in the United States or in the world. I would not consider myself to be a liberal, democrat, conservative, or republican; I would declare myself as independent; CITATION. I believe that there are some factors that have influenced my political standpoints; some have formed my beliefs and others have convinced me to value otherwise.

Family is not the only place I received my political socialization from, another place where I receive it is from my location in the United States. I am from Massachusetts which is in the North. I believe that people from the South would tend to be more conservative than people being from around here. A good example of this would be that Massachusetts is a state where homosexuals are allowed to get married. This might not be true for a southern state. That is another place where I do receive my political socialization from.

While the concept of a political climate has been used historically to describe both politics and public reactions to political actions in various forms, the naming of the concept by the addition of the modifier “political” to the base “climate” has been fairly recent. Public opinion is also widely used incorrectly as a synonym for political climate.

Personal characteristics play a role in anyone’s political beliefs if they believe it or not. For me being a male, Caucasian, 18-29, family income more than $100,000, and some college education will have me most likely to vote conservatively. These personal characteristics have played a role in my political views. I have many conservative view which matches up with my characteristics. Characteristics have an important

Historian Russell Kirk believes there are six basic tenets of all conservatism. To begin conservatives believe "in a transcendent order or body of natural law, which rules society as well as conscience. Political problems at their roots are religious and or moral problems" (9). The ideal that religion and morality can have influence over political and social problems is widely seen in the United States. The Republicans are often the choice of people with conservative Christian ideology.

The quizzes given to theoretically identify a person’s preferred political party and typology asked basic questions regarding common topics in politics today, such as, social welfare, environmental conservation, and government regulation. In examining the results of the quizzes taken, we must look at the potential outcomes. There are different categories of political preferences for people to be sorted into upon completion of the quiz. The preferences are given through answers to the questions asked. While there were indeed choices for every question, there were not enough individual choices for each question to accommodate the real spectrum at play in political preferences. For example, when a question is posed and only two potential answers are given, with one having a conservative stance and the other one having a liberal stance, this leaves no grey area or room for critical thought by the person being questioned. If the person answering the questions identifies as fairly moderate politically with a tendency to lean towards the liberal stance on some specific issues,

     Upon entering my first semester at Southern Nazarene University I could not have told you my political ideology. I knew what my opinions, observations, expectations, and ideals were, but did not know the proper ideology that would define them. Through several courses that I have taken, I have become more informed as to the role that I would like to see the government take throughout society as a whole and in the economy. Upon reading the section of ideology in American Government and Politics Today: the Essentials I learned that the correct term for my ideology is right-wing Conservatism. I would like to see the government take action if necessary in the economy, yet let

The rise of National Socialism in post-WWI Germany is an understandable reaction to the problems of the Versailles Peace Treaty, considering the German attitudes and beliefs at the time. These attitudes and beliefs were the result of generations of Prussian militarism, extreme racist nationalism, and, most importantly, the failure of the Treaty of Versailles signed in June of 1919. The rise of the Nazi party, and their extremist National Socialist doctrine appealed directly to these attitudes and beliefs that permeated Germany society after the first World War.

to avoid it at all costs. We therefore need a state that has laws that

Data sets, surveys, and other such tools are the driving forces behind the organized chaos around us. Simply put, the ability to compare, contrast, analyze, and identify things across an endless sea of topics is made exponentially easier because of the data. Our class survey provides a glimpse at how our ideological, political, moral, and academic stance compares to one another, as well as allowing myself, and the rest of us as individuals to see our choices compiled for a deeper understanding of our survey selections.

The other day, after what was a particularly cumbersome day at school and work, I found myself looking into the Texas sunset whilst stuck in traffic thinking, ‘I wish I could experience life before society. Free to live my life and roam as I please in a state free of impediments and commitments.’ This is not to say that I depicted this uncivilized life as a simulacrum flowing as seamlessly as was portrayed in The Swiss Family Robinson, I merely desired a break from what felt like a straightjacket bound by the orders of society. Furthermore, I pondered if a world without society and structure could possibly be one conducive to a more enjoyable, rewarding life. But the more I scrutinized this idea, I began to consider that this fleeting thought was one with no basis due to the incredible feats mankind has accomplished as a result of our enlightenment. Swiss philosopher, writer, and political theorist Jean Jacque Rousseau argues in The Social Contract that my thought that life could be better without society was not only rational, but laden with veracity. Rousseau’s visionary theory made the assertion that humankind was once brimming with natural goodness; and, were life to be played out pursuant to the desires that arose during my car ride home, a society-free world would be the only way to achieve such a virtuous mankind. Rousseau believed above all that “man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains.”