Unit 3B: Introducing Political Ideologies - Edexcel Exam 13th June

Hello

This is a thread to provide information about the Edexcel Unit 3B - Political ideologies exam on Monday 13th June. There is still some time left to revise. It is advised to revise all four ideologies : Socialism, Anarchism Liberalism and Conservatism, though only 3 are needed at minimum (for the three 15 mark questions and one 45 marker)

This thread has been created to ensure that TSR members can post all the notes and information they have. I have posted notes and exam presentations given to me by my college but I advise everyone to post anything they have in relation to anything they know and what can come up, as well as a specification on how answers are assessed. Rather than a discussion topic it should be an information thread to provide people with things they need for the exam, not general chat (to prolong page views so people find it harder to navigate) but it would be good to keep this alive :biggrin:

Of course general chat is welcome after the exam is over.

For Unit 4B - Ideological Traditions on Thursday 16th June please use the sister thread I have created. http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1672692

The attached documents here all provide the necessary information apart from the ideologies in Unit 4B of course:

(edited 12 years ago)

Overview.docx43.5KB

Unit_3_Notes.docx251.6KB

Anarchism_overview_questions_2010_-_11.pptx307.7KB

Conservatism_overview_of_questions_2010_-_11.pptx338.9KB

Liberalism_overview_of_questions_2011.pptx362.1KB

Socialism_overview_of_questions_2010_-_11.pptx344.4KB

Anarchism_exam_reports_2009.docx39.1KB

Conservatism_Exam_Reports2009.docx63.9KB

liberalism_exam_reports_2009.docx66.9KB

SOCIALISM_Exam_Reports_2009.docx74.7KB

Reply 1

missheyluv

OMG! I was over the moon when i saw this.. but cant open any of the files! if there is any way you can write out some notes mainly on unit 4B that would save me! i have had absolutely no time for that part and have an exam on wednesday too so you would be saving me! :smile:

or email some stuff to me maybe? i'm desperate!

Reply 2

Jagzthebest

Original post by missheyluv

or email some stuff to me maybe? i'm desperate!

you sure? just click the links and they should open or save with Microsoft word, the notes are way to long to copy and paste, sorry, its a problem with your system, I tried opening it from here and works for me :confused:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 3

missheyluv

hey yh it must be with my system cos it still wont open, i have tried everything! No probs tho thanks anyway :smile:

If someone can post some notes for unit 4B that would really help me out!

This may be helpful for UNIT3B:

Political Ideologies

Liberalism

• Sometimes portrayed as a meta-ideology because it is able to embrace a broad range of rival values and beliefs
• Consists of the break down in federalism and the growth of a market place or capitalist society
• Early liberalism = aspirations of the middle classes
• Attacks absolutism and feudal privilege – wants representative government
• 19th century – laissez-faire capitalism + limited gov. intervention
• Recently – more social state and economic intervention

Elements of Liberalism

? Individualism
• Supreme importance of the human individual as opposed to any social group
• Humans are seen as individuals – all equal of moral worth
• Aim to develop a society where each individual can flourish with different qualities
• Lays down a set of rules for humans to make moral choices over

? Freedom
• Individual freedom is given more importance than equality or justice etc.
• Humans must enjoy as much freedom as possible without encroaching on other’s freedom (there is a need for laws)

? Reason
• World has a rational structure
• Places faith in the ability of humans to make wise judgements
• Believe in progress – settle differences by debate and argument instead of bloodshed and war

? Equality
• Individuals are born equal
• Legal equality, political equality but not social equality as everyone has different skills – equality of opportunity not outcome
• Talented should rule, positions should be distributed on the basis of ability

? Toleration
• A way to protect individualism and allow social enrichment
• Promotes debate about issues to test each one
• Debate will not lead to conflict as there are usually a natural harmony between beliefs and views

? Consent
• Authority and social relationships should be based on willingness
• Favour representation and authority ‘from below’

? Constitutionalism
• Government is needed to maintain order and stability but is aware that power can corrupt – limited government is therefore favoured
• Want a codified or written constitution to protect rights

John Locke (1632-1704)
• Focused on the need for natural rights – life liberty and property
• End of absolutist rule replaced by constitutional monarchy was a good thing

Classical Liberalism

• Commitment to an extreme form of individualism – humans are self-reliant people
• Humans owe nothing to society or to any other individual
• Atomist view of society is applied by which a society I made up of self sufficient individuals
• No state or government intervention – but necessary to maintain order and stability – evil because it encroaches on individualism
• Minimal government intervention is require
• Economic liberalism – markets are self-regulating bringing greater benefits for all

Modern Liberalism (John Stuart Mill)

• Big government (social and economic intervention) are seen as necessary to avoid people being abused by those in charge
• Freedom = the ability to flourish and achieve self-realization not the freedom to be left alone as this ma lead to being harmed
• State intervention will therefore safeguard humans against the social evils
• Evils = want, disease, ignorance, idleness and squalor
• Laissez-faire capitalism was scrapped because of J.M. Keynes – prosperity in the markets can only be obtained through regulations and key economics being put into the hands of the state
• Aim is only to intervene when humans cannot help themselves and to bring those who cannot to a point where they can once again be self-sufficient
• Redistribution – progressive taxation for the rich and more welfare provisions for the poor.

Conservatism

• Came about in late 18th/early 19th century in a reaction to the fast economic and political changes
• They wanted to return to he absolutist structures that predated the French Revolution
• Continental Europe conservatism = autocratic and reactionary politics – no reform (Joseph de Maisre)
• UK and USA = ‘change I order to conserve’ – allowed social reform under the banner of ‘one-nation’
• New Right conservatism draws on classical conservative policies

Element of Conservatism

? Tradition
• The desire to conserve – tradition, respect for established customs and institutions that have survived through time
• Accumulation f wisdom from the past – tradition has been ‘tested by time’
• Promotes security and stability – people have a sense of social and historical belonging

? Pragmatism
• Human rationality is limited – we cannot possibly understand the world as it is too difficult to understand
• Principles and systems of thought (such as ideology) are not trusted – experience is
• Pragmatism = actions should be shaped by practical circumstances and practical goals
• Their beliefs are an ‘approach to life’ or ‘attitude of mind’

? Human Imperfection
• Human beings are limited, dependant, security seeking, drawn to familiar things, and have a need to live in stable communities
• Individuals are selfish, morally corrupt, greedy and have a thirst for power
• Crime and disorder lye with the individual not the state
• Maintenance of order therefore requires a strong state with strict laws and tough penalties.

? Organicism
• Society is a living whole – not a product of human ingenuity
• Society is structured with necessary essentials such as families, local communities and the nation as a whole.
• Shared values and a common culture can also be seen as important for social cohesion.

? Hierarchy
• Social positioning is natural and inevitable
• Reflect differing roles, such as parent and child
• Hierarchy and inequality to not cause conflict because everyone understands their moral obligation to society
• Privileged have to duty to care for the less fortunate

? Authority
• Authority is exercised ‘from above’ – providing leadership, guidance and support for those who lack knowledge or experience
• Natural aristocracy – qualities are inbred they cannot be learnt through effort or self-advancement – however this view has now altered to mean that experience is more important
• Authority gives people social cohesion and sets out what is required of them
• Freedom must coexist with responsibility

? Property
• Property ownership is vital to providing people with security and independence from government
• Property and material possession is also an exteriorization of the people’s personalities
• Right to have property comes with duties

Paternalistic conservatism

• Reform from above was preferable than revolution from below – by being privileged you must perform a duty to help those who were less privileged in order to provide social cohesion.
• One-nation principle tries to maintain social cohesion and stability
• Harold Macmillan – laissez-faire capitalism but state socialism and central planning. – resulting in free markets with some government intervention to avoid selfishness
• Freedom allowed as long as it doesn’t interfere with other’s freedom

The New Right

• Revolution against state intervention and the spread of liberal or progressive social values
• Came about after 1970’s were there was social breakdown, and a decline of authority
• Strong but minimal state

Neoliberalism

• Market and the individual
• ‘roll back the frontiers of the state’
• unregulated economy means greater prosperity and efficiency
• ‘private enterprise good, public bad’
• faith is placed in self-help and individual responsibility – no such thing as a state

Neoconservatism

• restore authority and to return to traditional values; family, religion and the nation
• authority guarantees social stability
• opposite of neo-conservatism is leaving one to make one’s own decisions
• emergence of multicultural and multi-religious societies is dangerous
• Scepticism about multiculturalism and supranational bodies such as the EU.

Socialism

• Came about as a political creed in early 19th century – a reaction to the growing industrial capitalism
• Interested people who worked rurally as they were worried about the spread of factories
• Goal to abolish a capitalist economy and replace it with a qualitatively different socialist society (Karl Marx)
• Reformist socialist tradition – integration of working class into capitalist society through an improvement in working conditions and wages and the growth of trade unions and socialist parties
• This is peaceful,gradual and legal transition to socialism, brought about by the parliamentary route
• Socialism is split into two categories – revisionist and humanist tradition
• Revolutionary – following Lenin and Bolsheviks – communists
• Reformists – social democracy – a different way to reach socialism

Elements of Socialism

? Community
• Human beings as social creatures linked by the existence of common humanity
• Importance in community – individual personality is made up from social interaction and membership of social groups and collective bodies
• Emphasise nurture over nature

? Fraternity
• Humans are bound together by a sense of comradeship or fraternity
• Encourages cooperation rather than competition
• Favour collectivism over individualism
• Cooperation enables people to build in their views into the community where as competition breeds resentment, conflict and hostility

? Social equality
• Primacy of equality over other values
• Social equality – equality of outcome over opportunity
• Gives humans a sense of individualism

? Need
• Material benefits should be distributed on a basis of need rather than on a basis or merit or work
• Belief that if basic needs of a human are fulfilled then a human with feel a purpose for existence

? Social class
• Analyse society on basis of wealth and therefore class is a significant
• Socialism has been associated with the interests of the oppressed and exploited working class
• A want for the eradication of economic and social inequalities or their substantial reduction

? Common ownership
• Either a means of generating broader equality or the end of socialism altogether
• Private property is an evil

Reply 4

Jagzthebest

Original post by missheyluv

hey yh it must be with my system cos it still wont open, i have tried everything! No probs tho thanks anyway :smile:

If someone can post some notes for unit 4B that would really help me out!

I feel really bad lol, I did try honestly, I wasn't logged in and tried both Firefox and internet explorer and it worked, so I'm really gutted about that for you :frown:

Anyway, I have to say thank you so much for posting that above, the notes should help people, really thank you! Also if anyone needs to know, the mark scheme is 20% for written communication, 30% for knowledge and understanding and 50% for analysis, so analysis of ideologies is really important when answering questions as they will be the bulk, but not all of your marks.