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Ideologies
Edited by Dr Peter Jepson.

 Annotate your lecture notes

Read and précis notes – Chapter 4 of ‘The
Essentials of UK Politics’ by Heywood – will be
checked prior to the delivery of this lecture.  Raise your hand if you have a
question.

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What other factors can shape

Introduction
beliefs?
What is Ideology?  Family  Personal belief
background
A guiding set of beliefs that incorporate:  Economic
 Class status?
 Political
values
 Economic values  Peers/friends  Education?
 Social values 3 4

What is the relationship between political “People who believe in the same political
principle use political parties to try and
parties and ideologies? achieve their common aims”

Edmund Burke (1729-97) said: “a party is a   Is political life that simple?

body of men united for promoting by their joint
endeavors the national interest upon some
particular principle in which they are all agreed”   Party members often have to compromise
on their beliefs so they can support the party

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leadership. Can you think of any examples
What does this mean?
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 Ideology in the UK

  Labour on Iraq war   How strongly do ideologies affect the policies

in British political parties?
  Conservatives on Europe
  What was the post war consensus/post
war social democracy?
  Do you think some Conservative MPs
will compromise their ideological beliefs   Are we still in an age of consensus? Is
under Cameron? ideology still important?

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Liberalism Classical Liberalism

Liberalism places its emphasis on the

individual and the individual’s relationship with
the state. John Locke (1623-1704)
Generally, Liberalism believes in small
government that interferes with the individual
  Minimal state intervention
as little as possible.
  Emphasis on freedom, toleration and equality
There are three strands of Liberalism that
  Individuals are rational
have dominated British politics.

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  Individuals are encouraged to pursue self-
improvement

Revisionist/New Liberalism Neo Liberalism

David Lloyd George (1863-1945) Margaret Thatcher (1925-…)

  Grew out from the social impact of the industrial

revolution
  Associated with the New Right in Britain under
  Liberals realised that greater state regulation was Thatcher and the USA under Reagan
needed to combat ills caused by industrial capitalism
  Wanted to end/minimise state intervention, especially
  Wanted state education and health in welfare
  Wanted pensions and unemployment benefit
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Conservatism
WARNING: There is a difference between
Conservatism and conservatism.
What is the difference between the two?
Conservative is the name of the political
party but conservatism is the name of the
ideology. They are not always the same
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thing…
Return to Neo Liberalism
  Liberal economic arguments and conservative
moral arguments.
  Liberal in its belief of markets , believed private
enterprise was almost always more efficient
than the public sector – privatisation over
nationalisation
  Morally conservative – belief in the family and
marriage. Anti gay rights in the UK, anti
abortion in the USA. A return to Victorian
values?
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Socialism
What is the essence of socialism?
Socialists believe in society and equality.
They believe that people can solve
problems better – reducing inequality – by
working together as a society rather than
by individuals working separately.
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What do conservatives believe?
  That change is potentially dangerous- changes
that claim to enhance ideas such as “equality”
or “freedom” are likely to prove disastrous
  People need leadership in order to lead a
successful life.
  That there should be a limited form of state
intervention where the state is seen as the
guardian of social order
  They consider themselves to be pragmatic
rather than ideological
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Ideology and the Conservative Party
  What ideology would best describe
the Conservative party?
  Précis the “What is ‘Thatcherism’?” box on page
112 of Heywood.
  Copy the table on page 114 of the differences
between one nation conservatism and
Thatcherism.
Is David Cameron a Thatcherite or one nation
Conservative? 16
What do socialists believe?
They are critical of the very nature of capitalism.
They believe that capitalism:
  Allows workers to not be rewarded for the full value
of their labour;
  Encourages unhealthy competition that goes
against cooperation;
  Warps the idea of democracy and distorts its purity;
  Wastes resources and is only looking for the long
term gain;
  Entrenches inequality and makes winners and
losers 18
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What do socialists believe?
• They believe that society should be
moulded rather than naturally evolving
• That there should be a redistribution of
resources resulting in greater equality of
outcome
• Cooperation is better than competition
• There should be state provision of
education and welfare for all
• There should be a collective control of the
means of production
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Who is this?
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Marxism
What countries in the world are, or
have been run, using Marxist
policies?
Have they achieved their goals?
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Socialism and the Labour Party
  Is Labour a socialist political party?
  Copy out the table on page 116 of
‘Essentials of UK Politics’ showing
the differences between old and new
Labour
Does this mean that Labour have abandoned
their ideological roots?
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Marxism
Marxists believe:
  That people are naturally cooperative
  That private property undermines this, and that the
very idea of private property is wrong
  That the state is run by the higher classes who have
no interest in change
  That the workers must overthrow this class (class
struggle) to abolish private property and take over the
means of production
Marxism and Socialism are similar, what do you
think the differences are?
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Other Ideologies
  Work in pairs to discuss other political
ideologies
  Try and think of:
  the main features of the ideologies;
  how they may have influenced mainstream political
parties;
  what political figures we would associate with them
You should be able to think of at least four
different ideologies!
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