Political Ideology: Crash Course Government and Politics #35 Video Lecture - World Knowledge

Hi, I'm Craig, and this is Crash Course Government
and Politics. And today, we're gonna get personal.
Not personal in the sense that I'm gonna tell you
I'm a bed wetter cause I'm not...gonna tell you that.
We're gonna talk about people's personal political
views and where they come from. This is what
political scientists sometimes call Political
Socialization.
But before we get into the forces that help
create our political outlooks, we should probably
define what political ideologies look like
in America.
[Theme Music]
In America, there are a number of ways
people characterize themselves politically.
Typically, they identify with a political party, although
as we'll see when we talk more about parties,
this has become less likely over time.
And although there's a lot of overlap between
political party and political ideology, there's
not 100% correspondence between the two.
But there is 100% overlap between my fist
and this eagle's beak! Politics.
So, now I should probably say what I mean
by political ideology. Basically, I'm talking
about whether you identify as liberal or conservative
or libertarian or socialist or anarchist or
nihilist or craigist - people who just love
me. I'm one of those.
You're probably familiar with the idea that
liberals are on the left, and conservatives
are on the right. And this can be a helpful shorthand,
but what political views do these terms represent?
Let's go to the Clone Zone! What? The Clone
Zone - it's right here now? I'll just...I'll
leave then. This way? I'll go this way.
Taking a cue from anti-federalists, American
conservatives believe that a large government poses
a threat to individual liberty, and we prefer our national
government to be as small as possible. (Scoffs)
We have this in common with libertarians.
There are some basic functions like national
defense that government can best take care
of. But especially since the New Deal, our
government has taken on too much. What government
we need is best handled by states and localities.
For the most part, American conservatives
believe in the free market and that it will
provide the greatest economic opportunity
and benefit to the greatest number of people.
American conservatives usually support a strong
defense. This is one place where we generally don't
think spending should be cut. Most other programs,
the things that fall under discretionary spending,
can and should be left up to the private sector. And
this will allow the government to reduce its spending.
Lower spending, in turn, will mean lower taxes.
Ahh, delicious lower taxes.
This means that we don't like flag burning,
and we favor prayer in schools because these
reflect traditional religious and patriotic
values.
Just like the eagle. I love the eagle. You're
my friend. (Kisses eagle)
Many conservatives, as strong adherents
to religious faiths, are against abortion.
But I'd say there's a greater diversity in conservative
views on social issues than on economic ones.
The social sphere is where we differ significantly
from our libertarian friends who don't see
any role for government in people's personal
lives. This means that libertarians often
support things like marijuana legalization that
more traditional conservatives do not support.
If there's one value that American conservatives
privilege above others, it's liberty. America
is a country of freedom, and in most cases, government
is more of a threat to liberty than a protector of it.
And I'm out. (Kisses hand and touches eagle's
head)
Not bad conservative clone.
But bad, here's why.
Sometimes liberals in the U.S. are called
New Deal Liberals because the policies that we
support grew out of the New Deal. And lately, a number
of us are trying to re-brand ourselves as progressives.
Although this is a little tricky given that, historically,
progressives and liberals aren't the same thing.
In general, American liberals believe that
government can help solve problems, and a
bigger government, like a glorious soaring
eagle can solve bigger problems and more of them.
We support government intervention in the
economy, both in the form of regulations and
higher taxes, especially when that intervention
benefits historically marginalized groups
like minorities, women, and the poor.
We like to the government step in on behalf
of consumers and to protect the environment
because in general, we don't trust that the
free market will be fair to everyone.
We know that protection of the environment, aiding
the poor, and expanding civil liberties all cost money,
so we usually favor a progressive tax system
with higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
Although not all American liberals are anti-business,
as a rule we don't have a lot of faith that big
businesses have the average American's best interest
at heart, and so we prefer to see them regulated.
Although we still see national defense as
important, most American liberals feel that
the country spends more than enough on the
military and that the defense budget should
be cut, leaving more money for necessary social
programs.
In the debate over guns or butter, we like
butter. Although we're also fine with the
government telling us not to eat so much of it.
If conservatives value liberty, we liberals
cherish equality as their primary political
virtue, and we see government as a necessary agent in
promoting equality. (Kisses hand and pats eagle's head)
We're equals, me and that eagle.
Thanks clones. So, for the most part, this
is what most American liberals and conservatives
believe, and these are the basic foundations
upon which they build their political opinions.
But where do they come from? (Punches eagle
and eagle tumbles to the floor)
Political scientists sometimes refer to the
process by which individuals establish their
personal political ideologies as political
socialization. And they have identified four
main agents that contribute to our political
identities.
Let's go to the Thought Bubble!
The first and most important source of our
politics is family. This makes a lot of sense
since kids either want to emulate their parents
or reject their ideas. And parents are usually
the first people that express political opinions
to kids.
As I suggested, family can influence your
political outlook in negative and positive
ways. If you respect your parents and admire
them, it's likely you will adopt their political ideology.
On the other hand, adopting an opposing political
view can be a form of rebellion.
Still, for the most part, liberal parents
breed liberal children, and conservative parents
create new generations of conservatives.
The second major influence on political ideology
is social groups, which in this case, refer
to one's race, gender, religion, or ethnicity.
Obviously, these are generalizations, but
certain groups tend to fall predictably into
liberal or conservative camps.
African Americans and Jewish people are among
the most liberal Americans while white Catholics
tend to be conservative. Latinos are an interesting
case because many identify as Catholic, but
they tend to be more liberal politically.
One of the reasons that many use to explain
why African Americans and Latinos tend to be
liberals is that these groups are disproportionately poor
and receive a significant share of government benefits.
To this way of thinking, economic self interest
is a prime determiner of where one stands
politically, and it also explains why white
conservatives, especially those who are wealthy,
favor policies of lower taxes and less government
intervention.
One problem with this purely self interested
view of political ideology though is that
there is a large number of low income, low
wealth white voters who also do or would gain
from more government benefits. But they tend
to be conservative.
In other words, be careful when you try to define
a person's politics by looking at their bank account.
Gender also tends to be statistically significant
in terms of political ideology. The gender
gap refers to the fact that women tend to be
more liberal overall than men. This is especially
true on the issue of national defense where they
tend to favor spending reductions rather than increases.
Thanks Thought Bubble. The third agent of
political socialization in the U.S. is education,
namely the primary and secondary school system.
This is the most formal way that our political
views are shaped since almost all American
students take at least one year of American
history, and many states require courses in civics.
In these courses, students learn about political
values like liberty and equality and may come
to align themselves with a liberal or conservative
view.
And maybe you're watching me in one of these
classes right now...
Conservatives tend to think that American
schools and textbooks skew towards a liberal
outlook, but this might be because most public
school teachers are members of unions, and
teachers' union membership correlates highly
with a liberal viewpoint.
Whether or not most teachers and textbooks
are liberal, it's a bit of a leap to assume
that most students will automatically adopt
the ideology of their teachers.
Education does relate to political ideology
in at least one measurable way though.
In that the higher the level of education one
attains, the more likely one is to profess
liberal views on issues such as women's rights
or abortion.
On the other hand, higher education levels also
correlate with more conservative views on issues
like government support of national health insurance or
affirmative action programs to help African Americans.
So, as with many things we look at, things
aren't so clear cut, and it's important to
have some kind of data to back up our generalizations.
One final agent of political socialization
are the political conditions one lives through.
Example - if you grew up during the Great
Depression and saw FDR's New Deal programs
benefit you and your family, it's likely that you'd
develop and maintain pro-government, liberal views.
If you came of age during the Reagan era,
when popular politicians were singing the
praises of self-reliance and calling government
the problem rather than the solution, it's
likely that you'd develop conservative political
views.
It remains to be seen whether people who form
their political identities during the Great
Recession will be liberal or conservative.
But don't worry - pollsters are busy trying to figure it out.
So there you have a very broad outline of
what the words conservative and liberal mean
in American politics and some of the factors
that turn people into liberals or conservatives.
More than probably anything I've said in this
series, these are generalizations that you
need to look at critically. This doesn't mean
that if you find someone or if you are someone
who doesn't fit either description 100%, that
we're completely wrong, only that political
ideologies are complex and change over time.
But we need to understand the outlines of
these generalities because they get used all
the time in our discussions of American politics. In fact,
it would be hard to talk about politics without them.
Thanks for watching - see you next time.
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Crash Course was made with the help of all
these political ideologues. Thanks for watching!