Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Friedrich Engels, French Revolution, False Consciousness

• School: Western University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: Political Science 1020E
• Professor: Nigmendra Narain

Document Summary

Thinking determines action: what people think determines how they act- mill. Ideas and ideologies structure political understanding, set goals, shape political systems, and act as a form of social cement. Ideologies aim to understand, interpret, and explain and evaluate the social world: they unify groups or classes around a set of beliefs and values. Ideologies are systems of ideas with their own histories. Ideologies describe: what is the state of the world, why is it this way, propose what it should be, provide a program of action. Ideologies: classical and new: classical ideologies include liberalism, conservatism, socialism and fascism, new ideologies include feminism, ecologism, religious fundamentalism, and multiculturalism, classical ideologies emphasize economics, interests and social class; new ideologies stress culture, identity, and individual self-definition. Multiple dimensions: economic: left and right, social: progressive and conservative, constitutional (third dimension in canada): reformist and status quo. Supreme court: environmental: greenhouse gas emissions, carbon pricing, pipelines.