1. POL 101: Responsible Citizenship Political Ideology

2. Political Ideology What is political ideology?
Generalizations about political ideologies
Political ideology spectrum
How to measure political ideology?

3. 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.

4. 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 do what they want
Limited except for protection from harm

5. Political Ideology spectrum
 
Socialism Liberalism Centrism Conservatism  
(Individual Freedom) (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

6. 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 1970s, many people lacked an ideological stance. Today?

7. How to measure Ideology?
Example of Ideological Scale

8. How to measure Ideology?
Example of Ideological Scale

9. 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?