On this page you will find files on each of the ideologies you will be studying. Use the 'drop down' menu to select an ideology. Each topic is divided into themed 'tutorials' with a test yourself section at the end. If you want to submit any queries or answers to the extension questions you can use the link on the contact page.
Each of the examined themes of the ideologies is covered. These are: the origins of the ideology; the core values; the key thinkers and schools of thought; and the history/development/themes relating to the ideology.
The 'Other Ideologies' page covers some (undeveloped) material which may be useful to Edexcel students, including PowerPoint slides on Anarchism and Feminism, a handout on Nationalism, and notes on Ecologism and Multiculturalism.
The drop-down tag also contains chapters from a draft ideologies textbook.
Exam hint:
All the questions on this paper specifically relate to the 4 ideologies (Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism & Fascism), so you won’t get asked a general question about ‘ideology’ as such. However, it is useful to know the key features of ‘ideology’ and to be able to describe how these relate to each of the ideologies you study.
In this paper being able to quote key thinkers appropriately is a really useful skill. I will note any useful quotes in bold.
In answering questions on Liberalism, Conservatism and Socialism ‘think linear’: i.e. think about the timeline of the ideology and what schools of thought are relevant to the question. Even a question on contemporary ideology may require you to go back to the historical roots of that ideology to explain the change or continuity.
Questions on fascism are different (because there is no extended timeline). To tackle these you need to be aware of how the values and theorists have influenced both traditional and contemporary fascism.
Each of the examined themes of the ideologies is covered. These are: the origins of the ideology; the core values; the key thinkers and schools of thought; and the history/development/themes relating to the ideology.
The 'Other Ideologies' page covers some (undeveloped) material which may be useful to Edexcel students, including PowerPoint slides on Anarchism and Feminism, a handout on Nationalism, and notes on Ecologism and Multiculturalism.
The drop-down tag also contains chapters from a draft ideologies textbook.
Exam hint:
All the questions on this paper specifically relate to the 4 ideologies (Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism & Fascism), so you won’t get asked a general question about ‘ideology’ as such. However, it is useful to know the key features of ‘ideology’ and to be able to describe how these relate to each of the ideologies you study.
In this paper being able to quote key thinkers appropriately is a really useful skill. I will note any useful quotes in bold.
In answering questions on Liberalism, Conservatism and Socialism ‘think linear’: i.e. think about the timeline of the ideology and what schools of thought are relevant to the question. Even a question on contemporary ideology may require you to go back to the historical roots of that ideology to explain the change or continuity.
Questions on fascism are different (because there is no extended timeline). To tackle these you need to be aware of how the values and theorists have influenced both traditional and contemporary fascism.
Tutorial 1: What is an ideology?
What is an ideology?
An ideology is a coherent set of values and beliefs which inform a political standpoint.
The important word here is ‘coherent’. A true ideology has values and beliefs which are consistent.
For example, it would be inconsistent (and therefore make no sense) for a single ideology to support equality and hierarchy, or pluralism and elitism. These ideas are incompatible.
Interestingly, Fascism is not always coherent. It supports ideas which can be seen as contradictory.
For example it talks of a totalitarian democracy (in which the leader interprets the will of the people and therefore absolves them of the need to exercise their democratic obligation to vote).
Consequently, the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper has called Fascism “a hodge-podge of ill-assorted ideas”, rather than an ideology (useful quote).
Even Hitler claimed that Nazism was ‘Weltanschauung’, a ‘world view’, rather than a systematic set of rational intellectual ideas. Fascists eschew (dismiss) rational thinking in favour of emotion and instinct.
The origins of the term ‘Ideology’…
The term ‘ideology’ was coined amid the French revolution by Antonie Destutt de Tracy.
It means ‘the science of ideas’ (just as sociology is the science of society or psychology is the science of the mid, or psyche).
De Tracey believed it was possible to achieve a ‘correct’, scientific understanding of the political world by analysing the origins of ‘ideas’.
It is not easy to precisely define what an ideology is. Among the possibilities offered by Professor Terry Eagleton are:
Generally ideologies have five core characteristics:
Let’s take each of these in turn and briefly see how the different ideologies interpret them. They will be considered in more detail in later tutorials. For now you just need a brief understanding.
A view on the past:
Liberals are optimistic. They believe:
A view of the future:
Liberals have an optimistic vision of the future:
A view of Human Nature:
Liberals believe:
Conservatives believe:
Socialists believe:
A view of the State
Liberals believe
A view of the Economy:
Liberals believe:
Conservatives:
Socialists believe:
Fascists believe in corporatism.
Test Yourself on ideology:
What is an ideology?
Who first coined the term ‘Ideology’?
What does ‘ideology mean’?
What are the five characteristics of an ideology?
How did Hugh Trevor-Roper describe Fascism?
What Hobbesian quote demonstrates that Conservatism is pessimistic about human nature?
Extension question (don’t worry if you can’t answer this now….we will cover it further later in the course)
What does each of the ideologies say about each of the five characteristics?
Tutorial 2: Views of Ideology
Here are two views of ideology which contrast with that proposed by Antonie De Tracy. Note, you do not need to know these in detail!
Marx’s view of Ideology
Rather than see ideology as an objective science of ideas (like De Tracy), Marx believed that ideologies were determined by the ruling elite.
In his view, ideologies reflected the values of the society and the historical period in which they emerged.
They were used by the elite to create a false view of the world (which he called false consciousness) and to control the masses.
Thus in the capitalist phase of history the masses are led to believe that competition is both necessary and healthy and that hard work will be rewarded.
Under capitalism the dominant religion (notably Protestant Calvinism and Methodism) ensures that people work hard, believing that they will get their reward in heaven.
Idleness is regarded as evil, hence the saying ‘the devil makes work for idle hands’.
For Marx, therefore, ideology is the tool or the ruling class to supress the masses.
Gramsci’s view
Like Marx, Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) believed that the ruling class promoted a dominant ideological consensus, or hegemony.
However, Gramsci differs from the traditional Marxist view of ideology in proposing the idea of dual consciousness.
The proletariat are not only influenced by the ideas of the ruling class, they hold their own ideas.
They are not blind to their own position, and are therefore capable of undermining the ruling class hegemony.
This threat to the ruling class hegemony is most likely to happen in times of economic crisis when the condition of the poor is likely to be worse.
In order for a revolution to occur Gramsci argued that the proletariat required an intellectual vanguard (leadership)
They would bring the proletariat out of false consciousness by creating an opposing hegemony of ideas that would benefit all.
Depictions of ideology
Ideologies can be depicted in various ways. One of the earliest depictions was of a linear left-right spectrum:
Left Right
Communism Socialism Liberalism Conservatism Fascism
In the twentieth century the emergence of communism in the Soviet Union and Maoist China led some observers to suggest that the totalitarian nature of these states was like that experienced under fascist regimes.
This led to the ‘horseshoe’ representation of ideologies, which emphasises the similarities between communist and fascist regimes as they emerged in the mid-twentieth century.
However, the emergence of ‘new’ ideologies in the late twentieth century and early twenty first century has produced a more complex picture which is less easy to describe in such a way.
For example, feminism, ecologism, and religious fundamentalism do not fit easily into either of these models.
Test yourself on views of ideology
Who did Marx believe determined the dominant ideology in a given society?
How did Gramsci differ from Marx in his interpretation of ideology?
Why did the horseshoe model come about?
What is the problem with the horseshoe model?
What is an ideology?
An ideology is a coherent set of values and beliefs which inform a political standpoint.
The important word here is ‘coherent’. A true ideology has values and beliefs which are consistent.
For example, it would be inconsistent (and therefore make no sense) for a single ideology to support equality and hierarchy, or pluralism and elitism. These ideas are incompatible.
Interestingly, Fascism is not always coherent. It supports ideas which can be seen as contradictory.
For example it talks of a totalitarian democracy (in which the leader interprets the will of the people and therefore absolves them of the need to exercise their democratic obligation to vote).
Consequently, the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper has called Fascism “a hodge-podge of ill-assorted ideas”, rather than an ideology (useful quote).
Even Hitler claimed that Nazism was ‘Weltanschauung’, a ‘world view’, rather than a systematic set of rational intellectual ideas. Fascists eschew (dismiss) rational thinking in favour of emotion and instinct.
The origins of the term ‘Ideology’…
The term ‘ideology’ was coined amid the French revolution by Antonie Destutt de Tracy.
It means ‘the science of ideas’ (just as sociology is the science of society or psychology is the science of the mid, or psyche).
De Tracey believed it was possible to achieve a ‘correct’, scientific understanding of the political world by analysing the origins of ‘ideas’.
It is not easy to precisely define what an ideology is. Among the possibilities offered by Professor Terry Eagleton are:
- A system of political beliefs
- The ideas and beliefs of a ruling elite
- Utopian thought (a ‘utopia’ is an imagined ‘perfect place’)
Generally ideologies have five core characteristics:
- A view of the past (which explains how society has emerged)
- A view of the future (a ‘blueprint’ of what a future society should look like)
- A view of human nature (are we innately good or bad?)
- A view of the role of the state (should government have more of a role in our lives or less?)
- A view of the economy (should it be directed by the state or should we have a free market?)
Let’s take each of these in turn and briefly see how the different ideologies interpret them. They will be considered in more detail in later tutorials. For now you just need a brief understanding.
A view on the past:
Liberals are optimistic. They believe:
- The past demonstrates human progress.
- The history of mankind is the history of social, political and scientific advancement.
- The past can teach us lessons and that time-served institutions (eg the monarchy, the House of Lords, the church) should be preserved.
- The very name ‘conservative’ suggests that they wish to preserve those institutions and practices which have served us well.
- The past demonstrates the division of social classes and class struggle.
- The history of humankind has been a history of oppression, culminating in capitalism: an oppressive economic system which will be overthrown by socialism.
- Marx, particularly, shared the view that the history of mankind was the history of class struggle.
- There was once a glorious past in which their people were dominant.
- Their mission is to reawaken that glorious past.
- For Mussolini this meant the reawakening of the Roman Empire and for Hitler the dawn of a new era of the Aryan people (the Third Reich).
A view of the future:
Liberals have an optimistic vision of the future:
- The march of progress will ensure that there will be continuous improvements in our lives.
- This is evident in the scientific, political, social and economic achievements of humankind.
- They regard themselves as pragmatic (practical, rather than idealistic), responding to the circumstances of the time rather than trying to impose a flawed vision of how things should be in the world.
- Any vision of the future will be flawed, because human nature and intellect is flawed.
- So they resist visionary ideological dogma in favour of pragmatism.
- They must fight to create a more egalitarian (equal) world where humans will live harmoniously and share the fruits of their labour.
- The future belongs to their nation or race, that their people will secure dominance in a new world order.
- They seek to revive past glories.
A view of Human Nature:
Liberals believe:
- Humans are self-seeking and largely self-reliant creatures
- They are also governed by reason and are capable of personal development, particularly through education.
- This is a generally optimistic view.
Conservatives believe:
- Human beings are essentially limited (flawed)
- We prefer the familiar and the tried and tested.
- People are innately selfish and greedy
- The enlightenment philosopher, Thomas Hobbes said: “The life of man is… solitary, nasty, brutish and short.” (useful quote)
- We are all tainted by the biblical notion of ‘original sin’
- This is a pessimistic view of human nature.
Socialists believe:
- Humans as social creatures
- We are moulded by the society in which we live: shaped more by nurture than by nature
- Freed of the competitive greed of capitalism we would cooperate with each other
- This is an optimistic view of human nature.
- People have no meaning outside the state.
- They reject individualism in favour of the nation or race
- People need a strong, a visionary leader
- Emotion is better than reason
- This is a pessimistic view of human nature
A view of the State
Liberals believe
- The role of the state should be minimal.
- This is because mankind is rational and therefore individuals should be allowed to determine what is best for them.
- Priority should be given to freedom.
- The state is merely a natural arbiter amongst competing interests and groups in a society and a guarantee of social order.
- Classical Liberals support negative freedom, or freedom from a powerful monarch or the state
- They treat the state as a necessary evil.
- Progressive Liberalism supports positive freedom, or freedom to fulfil personal development
- This can be achieved through education and welfare.
- Progressive Liberals therefore see a greater role for the state than Classical Liberals.
- Society is naturally hierarchical and that inequality is deep rooted.
- The state exists to maintain law and order, because people are naturally selfish.
- It protects society from chaos and social disorder
- However, neoliberal conservatives (eg Thatcher) have called for the state to be ‘rolled back’ (reduced).
- < > have stressed the link between the state and the class system, seeing it as an instrument of class rule. Democratic socialists believe that the state can provide welfare and full employment for the common good (eg the NHS and the welfare state).
- The state is of central importance in all aspects of the lives of citizens.
- The distinction between public and private lives is not one that fascists would recognise.
- To Italian fascists the state gave meaning and purpose to its people.
- To the Nazis the state existed for the advancement of the Aryan race.
A view of the Economy:
Liberals believe:
- There should be free trade anda laissez faire (‘let it be’) economy, free from government intervention.
- The classical liberal economist, Adam Smith, suggested that there are unseen market forces which directs the economy and which are beyond human understanding.
- It would be wrong to interfere with these market forces and to try to control the economy.
- Progressive liberals, however, support the idea of greater state regulation in the economy to tackle poverty.
Conservatives:
- Have often supported the ideas of protectionism (taxes on imports to protect British jobs).
- However, there has always been a tension within the Conservative party over the acceptance of free trade.
- Under the influence of the economist Hayek’s writings neoliberal conservatives (eg Thatcher) have promoted free market economics.
Socialists believe:
- A fair society needs nationalisation or common ownership of the means of production.
- This was established in the original Clause IV of the Labour Party Constitution, written by Sidney Webb in 1918.
- Attlee’s Labour government nationalised the ‘commanding heights of the economy’, key industries such as coal and steel and the public utilities.
- However, social democrats, such as Tony Blair, have accepted free market capitalism.
- Blair’s Third Way economics embrace a mixed economy in which the private sector is used to finance and support the public sector.
Fascists believe in corporatism.
- This economic model proposes that the state, business organisations and the workers should all be working together for the good of the state.
- Corporatism was an economic model favoured in Mussolini’s Italy.
Test Yourself on ideology:
What is an ideology?
Who first coined the term ‘Ideology’?
What does ‘ideology mean’?
What are the five characteristics of an ideology?
How did Hugh Trevor-Roper describe Fascism?
What Hobbesian quote demonstrates that Conservatism is pessimistic about human nature?
Extension question (don’t worry if you can’t answer this now….we will cover it further later in the course)
What does each of the ideologies say about each of the five characteristics?
Tutorial 2: Views of Ideology
Here are two views of ideology which contrast with that proposed by Antonie De Tracy. Note, you do not need to know these in detail!
Marx’s view of Ideology
Rather than see ideology as an objective science of ideas (like De Tracy), Marx believed that ideologies were determined by the ruling elite.
In his view, ideologies reflected the values of the society and the historical period in which they emerged.
They were used by the elite to create a false view of the world (which he called false consciousness) and to control the masses.
Thus in the capitalist phase of history the masses are led to believe that competition is both necessary and healthy and that hard work will be rewarded.
Under capitalism the dominant religion (notably Protestant Calvinism and Methodism) ensures that people work hard, believing that they will get their reward in heaven.
Idleness is regarded as evil, hence the saying ‘the devil makes work for idle hands’.
For Marx, therefore, ideology is the tool or the ruling class to supress the masses.
Gramsci’s view
Like Marx, Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) believed that the ruling class promoted a dominant ideological consensus, or hegemony.
However, Gramsci differs from the traditional Marxist view of ideology in proposing the idea of dual consciousness.
The proletariat are not only influenced by the ideas of the ruling class, they hold their own ideas.
They are not blind to their own position, and are therefore capable of undermining the ruling class hegemony.
This threat to the ruling class hegemony is most likely to happen in times of economic crisis when the condition of the poor is likely to be worse.
In order for a revolution to occur Gramsci argued that the proletariat required an intellectual vanguard (leadership)
They would bring the proletariat out of false consciousness by creating an opposing hegemony of ideas that would benefit all.
Depictions of ideology
Ideologies can be depicted in various ways. One of the earliest depictions was of a linear left-right spectrum:
Left Right
Communism Socialism Liberalism Conservatism Fascism
In the twentieth century the emergence of communism in the Soviet Union and Maoist China led some observers to suggest that the totalitarian nature of these states was like that experienced under fascist regimes.
This led to the ‘horseshoe’ representation of ideologies, which emphasises the similarities between communist and fascist regimes as they emerged in the mid-twentieth century.
However, the emergence of ‘new’ ideologies in the late twentieth century and early twenty first century has produced a more complex picture which is less easy to describe in such a way.
For example, feminism, ecologism, and religious fundamentalism do not fit easily into either of these models.
Test yourself on views of ideology
Who did Marx believe determined the dominant ideology in a given society?
How did Gramsci differ from Marx in his interpretation of ideology?
Why did the horseshoe model come about?
What is the problem with the horseshoe model?