SOCI 250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Social Control, Counterargument, Dime (United States Coin)
8 Jun 2018
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Lecture 3 (September 14th, 2017)
Political Ideology
MUST READ THIS FOR MIDTERM:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074/50-years-ago-sugar-industry-
quietly-paid-scientists-to-point-blame-at-fat
! Political Ideology
•!What is ideology?
o!A set of system of theories and beliefs held by an individual o group, especially about
sociopolitical goals and methods to attain them
o!In common usage, ideology is a set of belief so strongly held by adherents as to cause
them to ignore evidence against such beliefs
o!A worldview
o!A tool of simplification
•!These world views shape the way we see the social problems – and will shape whether or not
they are problems. The very title of this class reflects a certain ideology: social problem
•!Left/right
o!Liberal vs. conservative
•!For scholars, rather than asking you if you’re liberal or conservative, are you left or right on
the political continuum… they ask you if you’re for the death penalty, for or against abortion,
do you believe climate change is real and caused by humans … there are a few others but
how you answer to those few questions could let us know what your political ideology is
•!Not just left and right; it’s a continuum
o!There’s a center
o!The extremes are rarely seen
o!Liberal and conservative change so it’s difficult to define which is left and which is
right. But we are going to keep it concrete
•!Liberal party is very centric, but more towards the left
•!Conservative party is not too far from the right
! Left
•!Communism-socialism: government owns everything – all means of production, nothing is
private, everything is owned by the state
•!Principle overarching motivating theme is fighting social and economic inequalities of all
types
o!Denounced, seen as inappropriate, and are fought against
o!The farther away you go from the center to the right, the less they care about these
inequalities
•!Collectivism is very important and that can be the nation state, what is the collective, and
often globally – concerned about global inequality
o!Not just internal; it’s external as well
•!Social policy – what is the primary role of the state?
o!The state should be motivated to reduce inequalities, create a strong social welfare
system for people at the bottom of the social stratification system
"!For people on the left, they say “yea, that should be one of the primary goals
of the state solving affectively social problems, have a great deal of social
welfare”
o!Social’s ills: poverty, unemployment, drug abuse, suicide… are a product of our
flawed society – they’re part of the inequalities in our societies
•!Principle of gaze – how are they looking at the world?
o!Forward looking – which is why they’re often called progressives
o!“Today is not perfect, but tomorrow will be progressively better”, “we could live in a
world where things will be better tomorrow”
o!It’s a linear projection forward
•!Fundamental assumptions about human nature
o!People are fundamentally “good” or at least neutral
o!So what causes the social problems, social ills, poverty, unemployment…? These
things are caused by the flaws within society as a whole and/or culture
"!Flaws within the culture itself
"!Ex: if I commit a crime right now, the left is going to say “you know, you
wouldn’t have done that because we’re born good people – it’s bad
socialization, bad upbringing, bad media… that drove you to think that the
crime you committed is an acceptable outcome”
o!If I think people are good and culture makes them bad, it’ll inform social policies –
thinking about responding to issues differently
•!Left’s view on personal choice – free will
o!Choice is constrained by the reality that you live in
o!Ex: it might not make perfect sense for you to send dope if you have a lot of options,
but if you don’t, maybe it’s a rational choice
o!It might not make sense to everybody, but in the world I’m living it, it’s the best
option I got
o!Rationality /choice is constrained by opportunity
o!Bounded rationality by your context, structural conditions around you
"!The notion of free will is profoundly constrained – do you really have all
choices at your disposal or not? If you don’t, what is constraining it? It’s
contributing inequality, discrimination… some of those choices might lead
you to crime, for example.
•!Economic policy
o!Economic equality being one of the central concerns
o!Tax policy = a lot for the rich, a little for the poor
"!Redistribution of wealth through social welfare – send it to the poor people
"!Justification: inequality, discrimination, and a central concern of breaking
those things down
o!The jump from being born poor to finding yourself rich is challenging because there a
series of blocked opportunities
"!There are classes of people that have a much more difficult time getting up the
economic stratification system (because of gender, immigrants, race,
ethnicity…)
