This essay is aimed to discuss the meaning of ideology and it different uses and abuses to which it may be put in a politics
This essay is aimed to discuss the meaning of ideology and it different uses and abuses to which it may be put in a politics. The term ideology has to do with legitimating the power of dominant social group or class. A dominant power which legitimate itself by promoting beliefs and values congenial to it naturalizing and universalising. This belief are to render them self evident and apparently inevitable (T. Eagleton 1991 p5). Ideology is the name given to any comprehensive and mutually consistent set of ideas by which a social group makes sense of the world. (Iain Mclean 1996 p233). When ideology is employed in the use of government it affect not only those who already conform to the ideology but those citizens who do not. Ideology is a body of ideas that reflect the beliefs of nation political system and which is called political ideology. Marx defined ideology as major instruments in the hands of ruling class, used to deceive subordinate classes about true nature of capitalism and to perpetuate its own dominion. (Godwin 1992 p20). An ideology may be seen not simply as social interest but as rationalising them. This means when try to defend something indefensible and cloaking some disreputable motive in high-sounding ethical terms( T. Eagleton1991 p51). In other words, ideology would be seem to make reference not only to belief systems, but to question of power, for
discuss the levels of alienation and the question of whether people are alienated if they cannot perceive it.
Alienation I have felt alienated by work many times, which gives me a kind of practical experience on the essay title. I have divided my essay into two parts. In the first one I present my main points i.e. the ways in which and the extent to which work is alienating and illustrate them with examples. In the second and more evaluative part I discuss the levels of alienation and the question of whether people are alienated if they cannot perceive it. By alienation is meant that a person experiences estranged from him. He does not feel as the creator or master of his own acts but instead his acts and their consequences have become his masters. To put the same in Karl Marx's words man's "own act becomes to him an alien power, standing over and against him, instead of being ruled by him". The meaning of the term "alienation" has been studied by other authors as well e.g. R.Blauner and Feuerbach...They take slightly different views to the term: socio-psychological and philosophical respectively. Since I do not think they contradict the definition given above I will not present them here. Work, being a quintessential part of human existence, is very important to mankind. Since the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century the nature of work has changed dramatically. Along with it came factory work with high degrees of discipline and supervision, time consciousness and the division
To what extent has socialism been defined by it's opposition to capitalism
To what extent has socialism been defined by it's opposition to capitalism The history of socialism has been punctuated with a number of revisions of its traditional ideals. These have included several revisions of the relationship between socialism and capitalism. Whereas traditional socialist thinkers such as Karl Marx saw socialism as fundamentally opposed to capitalism, and the abolishment of the capitalism system was their primary goal, socialism has developed dramatically to an extent that modern socialist thinkers arguing that socialism can exist alongside capitalism. Marx saw capitalism is against human nature. He believed humans were sociable and co-operative, but capitalism was a system which encouraged competition and pursuits of self-interest, and split the community into two opposing classes; the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. He believed, that to achieve 'social justice', there was call for a violent revolution in which the working class would rise against their exploitation and overthrow the capitalist system. This would then be followed by a transitional stage, the 'Dictatorship of the Proletariat', before a communist system based on production for need was established. Towards the end of the twentieth century, socialist academia were beginning to question the ideas of Karl Marx, as his prediction of the fall of capitalism had not come true. But the
'Accidental Death Of An Anarchist' was written by Dario Fo, in 1970 - Contextualisation
Gemma Singh ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST By DARIO FO CONTEXTUALISATION 'Accidental Death Of An Anarchist' was written by Dario Fo, in 1970 and was first staged in 1979. The play is a provocative piece of drama, containing highly dangerous issues concerning the corruption of political authorities. It's controversial issues and perfected physical movement captivates an audience through it's comic theme as well as pungent serious elements. Dario Fo was born in 1926; he is the son of a railroad worker. Fo is a popular and controversial playwright as well as actor and director. He is well known for leading the field in political satire internationally and in Europe for over 30 years. Fo's main targets (so called inspired attacks) have been corruption in the Italian Legal System imperialism and capitalism .Fo began his career as a performer in the satirical cabaret-style revues (which probably influenced his continuous pleasure in writing plays with a main theme pungent political satire - like 'Accidental Death Of An Anarchist'). In 1973, his wife Franca Rame, was kidnapped, tortured and raped by a group of fascists, to punish them for their political activism. However this never drove the exceptional author to stop producing satirical plays, in fact it probably gave some form of motivation to continue the journey of 'Accidental Death Of An Anarchist' and its "biting
What is the significance of the distinction between primary and Caucus?
WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN PRIMARY AND CAUCUS? A Caucus is a series of meetings held by party members rather than open elections. They are also used to select a party's candidate for the presidency. States that usually use caucuses to select their candidates include Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, Hawaii and Nevada. A primary is an election held within a political party to decide which of a number of competing individuals should be the official candidate of that party in a public election. It is most commonly used in the USA by political parties to select their preference for a presidential candidate. Most states use the 'primary' to nominate their President. New Hampshire is usually the first state to hold the primary season in February or March and the rest follow over the next three or four months. There are several different types of primaries. These include closed primaries, open primaries, blanket primaries, winner-take-all primaries, proportional representation primary, advisory primary and mandatory primary. A closed primary offers a greater degree of participation than caucuses. A disadvantage of such primary is that only party members can vote. Hence, voting can be biased as some candidates might be given priority over the others. However, an advantage is that the party members would know who is the suitable candidate to run for presidency.
Is “reason” helping?
Philosophy Adrian Edwards Is "reason" helping? 3/9/02 Enlightenment thinkers thought that almost all of the world's problems were in direct result of the lack of reason. With the development of reason they thought many problems were solved. But that was only a theory, an idea that has not helped anything. It is constant, everyone in the world wants to make a model society, and make things better, a natural inclination, which has nothing to do with reason. The question of deciding whether or not "reason" is helping people and nations today is a hard one. Which country does on need to look at to decide? Looking at America, some could decide that, yes, reason is helping, where others could say no. If we were to look at, say , the Congo in Africa, and all the massacres, then some would say where was reason then? Now what is "reason"? Reason is the be00nlief and idea that more educates people will make better decisions. Now has "reason" helped the United States? Yes for the most part, intelligent people have created a free-based country, made a constitution meant for change, and overall that believes in the good of the world. Now the United States is not all good, our country is based off of slavery for a long time and women couldn't vote for a long time, only about 40 years ago did they get the vote. At the same time though, look at Enron. All the executives of the
Albert Einstein.
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is." - Albert Einstein - Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on Mar, 14, 1879. Einstein's parents, who were non practicing Jews, moved from Ulm to Munich when Einstein was a baby. When the family's business, the manufacture of electrical parts, failed in 1894, the family moved to Milan, Italy. At this time Einstein decided legitimately to relinquish his German citizenship. Within a year, still without having completed secondary school, Einstein sat an examination that would have allowed him to pursue a course of study leading to a diploma as an electrical engineer at the Swiss Polytechnic, a top technical university, but he failed the arts component of the examination. His family sent him to the Swiss town of Aarau to finish high school. It was at this school that Einstein first started to develop a love for physics. In 1896, Einstein returned to the Swiss Polytechnic, where he graduated in 1900 as a secondary school teacher of mathematics and physics. After two years of teaching, Einstein obtained a post at the Swiss patent office in Bern. While he was employed at the office (1902-1909), Einstein completed an astonishing range of publications in theoretical physics. The year 1905 was known as "Annus Mirabilis" - Einstein's "Miracle Year". Einstein's
Media a threat?
Threat? What does it actually mean? A threat is a warning that states your intention to hurt or punish somebody. So, my question is: when has any type of media actually 'THREATENED' the government? Let's talk about what a Democratic Government means. "Demo" is Greek for "people" and "Cratic" is Greek for "rule". As we all know, this type of government is elected and indirectly ruled by the society. We give them the permission to use our money on government spending. Therefore, shouldn't we have the right to know where OUR money is going, what is happening to OUR country? We do, and how do we get hold of such information? through the media. If the government is doing something wrong, the media will tell us what is going on, and let me just emphasise that this is not a threat but is actually healthy criticism which helps the democratic government know the public's opinion. The media is there to enhance the public's awareness about governments, their doings and to express their opinions regarding current issues in politics. As we all know, there are many different Newspapers. Such as: 'La provincia', 'El pais', 'El mundo'. Now do you really think that all these Newspapers share the same view? I'm afraid not. El pais criticises Zapatero for example whereas La provincial agrees with all his views, so we do get a balanced view about our president's actions and ideas. And now,
Discussion question: What is socialism? Is socialism possible or desirable?
Discussion question: What is socialism? Is socialism possible or desirable? (Week 14 question, Inequality) Throughout the history of the Western world various ideologies have proven so influential as to give rise to assorted "possibilities and desires" that change society. Namely, the rise and support of socialism has been a major component to the make up of Western history in the 19th and 20th centuries. An investigation into the development of socialism will prove that its popularity, support and even criticism came as a result of certain milestones. These milestones serve as turning points in the ideology's history, and without them it could easily be presumed that the philosophy would never have produced such influential results. In addition, such an investigation will prove these milestones were joined with various interactions between the philosophers and the political reality of assorted nations. This interaction proved to be the roots that allowed socialism to bloom into its entirety. There were various events in Western history that inspired discontent with the current government structure. This discontent dated all the way back to the late 1700's when political theorists like Edmund Burke tried to promote the monarchies in the Restoration era: "In Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burke said that...the belief in human equality undermined the social
Are political parties better understood as reflections of ‘social cleavages’, or products of strategic action?
Are political parties better understood as reflections of 'social cleavages', or products of strategic action? As famously expressed by the 19th century French politician and writer Tocqueville, political parties in democratic countries are "the only powerful persons who aspire to rule the state"i. Thus, political scientists and politicians have been keen on examining patterns of support that political parties receive from significant social groupings. The concept of cleavages has become a vital concept in political science when trying to understand voting behaviour and party systems. Seymour Martin Lipset and Stein Rokkan (1967) described the development of European party systems in terms of the historical conditions of national and socio-economic developmentii. According to Lipset and Rokkan's work, party preferences are strongly influenced by the social groups to which voters belong. Parties arise, then, in response to the demands of these voters. On the other hand, the changes that took place in the European party systems since the Second World War have led many political scientists such as Kirchheimer, Dalton to view political parties as products of an interaction of social base and strategic action. Kirchheimer's 'catch-all party model' aimed to show the new intention of European political parties to attract as many voters as they can, giving less importance to the
