24th January 2012 - Political Ideologies - Edexcel

Does anyone have any ideas as to what might come up in the exam?

Scroll to see replies

It's hard to guess really. Does anyone have a list of the questions asked in the past 3 exams?

What I do have are these (below) which seen really useful! (Just to point out, they're not mine they're from a user called 'Jagzthebest')

Liberalism_overview_of_questions_2011.pptx362.1KB

Conservatism_overview_of_questions_2010_-_11.pptx338.9KB

Anarchism_overview_questions_2010_-_11.pptx307.7KB

Socialism_overview_of_questions_2010_-_11.pptx344.4KB

Reply 2

Tremmel Smith

Those power points are amazing

Reply 3

Terminator7t

Original post by Tremmel Smith

Those power points are amazing

I second this. Thanks a lot Swell, these will be incredibly helpful for revision.

Reply 4

Swell

No worries guys. Found some more, top three are from Edexcel and i'm not completely sure where the last ones from... :colondollar:

Happy revision!

Conservatism_Exam_Reports2009.docx63.9KB

liberalism_exam_reports_2009.docx66.9KB

SOCIALISM_Exam_Reports_2009.docx74.7KB

Unit_3_Notes.docx251.6KB

Reply 5

batboy113

OMG those powerpoints are AWESOME. Thank you so so so much swell!

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 6

Swell

Nothing like a bit of Liberalism on a Sunday night!

Reply 7

Lostmoon9

Original post by Swell

It's hard to guess really. Does anyone have a list of the questions asked in the past 3 exams?

Hey these are all the questions that have come up:

January 2010
Short Questions
1 On what grounds have liberals supported democracy? (June 03)
2 Explain the link between anarchism and collectivism. (June 03)
3 Why have democratic socialists believed in the ‘inevitability of gradualism’? (Jan 08)
4 To what extent do traditional conservatives and the New Right differ in their views of society? (Jan 02)
5 Why have anarchists viewed the state as inherently evil and oppressive? (June 07)

Essays

6. ‘Conservatives favour pragmatism over principle.’ Discuss. (Jan 04) (Jun 07)
7. To what extent does modern liberalism depart from the ideas of classical liberalism? (Jan 02)
8. ‘Socialism is defined by its opposition to capitalism.’ Discuss (June 04)

June 2010
Short Questions

1 Why has socialism been viewed as a form of class politics?
2 How have conservatives justified private property? (Jun 04, Jan 08)
3 Why and how have liberals supported the fragmentation of political power?
4 On what grounds do anarchists believe in the possibility of a stateless society?
5 Why did Marx believe that capitalism was doomed to collapse? (Jun 08_)

Essays

6. To what extent do conservatives believe in tradition and continuity? (Jun 02, Jan 03, Jan 06, June 08)
7. ‘Anarchism is closer to liberalism than it is to socialism.’ Discuss.
8. To what extent is there tension between liberalism and the principle of equality?

January 2011
Short Questions
1. Distinguish between neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism.
2. How and why has anarchism been linked to communism?
3. To what extent do liberals disagree over freedom?
4. Distinguish between fundamentalist socialism and revisionist socialism. (Jan 03, Jun 06)
5. On what grounds have conservatives supported tradition and continuity? (Jun 02, Jan 03,Jun 05 Jun 08)
Essay Questions
6. ‘A fear of democracy runs throughout liberalism.’ Discuss.
7. ‘Anarchism is merely free market liberalism taken to its extreme.’ Discuss.
8. To what extent have socialists disagreed about the means of achieving socialism?

June 2011
Short Questions

1 How and why have socialists endorsed collectivism? ( Jun 02)
2 On what grounds have liberals defended constitutionalism? (Jan 02, June 05
3 Explain the link between anarchism and individualism.
4 On what grounds have conservatives supported One Nation principles? (Jan 05, June 09)
5 Distinguish between economic liberalism and social liberalism.(Jan 06)
Essay Questions
6. To what extent have socialists been committed to equality of outcome? (Jan 04)
7. ‘Anarchists demand the impossible.’ Discuss.
8. To what extent is conservatism a philosophy of imperfection? (Jan 02, Jan 09)

Reply 8

IAMchocolatee

Original post by Lostmoon9

So what do you think will come up?

Reply 9

Lostmoon9

Original post by IAMchocolatee

So what do you think will come up?

I think Anarchism will be the main 2 small questions leaving the rest ideologies as Essays. Its so diverse that you can't really predict. With conservationism: they have done 3 of the core of values: Private Property; Organic Society and Tradition. The only thing they have not done is Hierarchy (linked with authority) and Human Imperfection. They have done Human Imperfect as an essay but it come again like Tradition and continuity did. That's all I have so far!

Reply 10

JEFFERSON

Eliminating the questions which can't be asked, what is everyone revising and thinking will come up? Especially in terms of the long essays?

Reply 11

jdthemagicman

Original post by JEFFERSON

Eliminating the questions which can't be asked, what is everyone revising and thinking will come up? Especially in terms of the long essays?

Long essay..what is the inevitablity of gradualism and why

Reply 12

JEFFERSON

Original post by jdthemagicman

Long essay..what is the inevitablity of gradualism and why

What do you put in that to make it a looong essay. I can't imagine it being more than a 15 marker

Reply 13

Swell

Original post by JEFFERSON

What do you put in that to make it a looong essay. I can't imagine it being more than a 15 marker

Second this, if anyone could explain how they'd expand this answer, I'd appreciate it...

Reply 14

Lostmoon9

Original post by jdthemagicman

Long essay..what is the inevitablity of gradualism and why

This question has already come up! Doubt they will repeat it.

Reply 15

jdthemagicman

Original post by Swell

Second this, if anyone could explain how they'd expand this answer, I'd appreciate it...

Yeah, when i first approached the question, it looked really tough but then I realized there is a lot of synopticity i.e. just using ideologies to explain.

What is the inevitability of gradualism and why has it failed.

intro : blah blah blah

So paragraph 1 : what inevitability of capitalism is and how it came about:

inevitability of gradualism- created by the fabian society in the late 19th century, who took the "parliamentary route" - belief that socialism is inevitable as the home of the working class. Working class is the majority and thus they will vote for that party..as society continues, socialism gains more appeal. Furthermore, capitalists see the inefficiency of capitalism ( i.e. waisted competition) and join.

paragraph 2,3,4... why it failed :

1. marxist view of state as " committee for the common affairs of the bourgeoisie ( commuinist manifesto) ..thus, gradualism impossible as bourgeoisie own the state ( maybe mention how they own the base .. affecting the superstructure will have no effect) .. e.g. proudhon said " reform is counter revolutionary" as puts them under a false sens of class consciousness.

2. gailbraiths book "culture of contentment" said society had become more conservative, due to a contented majority..thus, vote conservative as value social stability over potentially damaging radical change.

3. diminishing working class - deindustrilization, colonilisation into africa and asia, people becoming more affluent. Thus, gradualisms idea of "inevitability of socialism" will fail as there will not be a majority working class. Instead, the middle class will be larger. Consequently, socialist parties will have to have simplify their policies to appeal to a great majority - e.g. moved from fundementalist to revision socialism .. social democracy..third way

4. maybe capitalism is the best way after all. e.g. Eduard Bernsteins book " evolutionary socialism" criticized marxism as it failed. Furthermore, Anthony crossland said the managers had become divorced from the means of production and explotation- now had a number of objectives e.g. keep the stakeholders and society happy. Furthermore, looking at history..Keynes economics had been seen to fail e.g. 1973 enormous stagflation. Free market economics maybe better after all, resulting in more innovation, competition and wealth e.g. thatchers privatization.

Reply 16

Lostmoon9

Good luck to everyone tomorrow!

Reply 17

Terminator7t

Am I the only one dreading this exam tomorrow?

lol doesnt seem like

I thought it was a joke that 3 of the 15 marker questions involved Socialism. I thought it could only be a maximum of two which is a shame really, as I did not revise Socialism AT ALL.

I thought the 45 markers were fairly easy. I did the Anarchism one, talking about how individual and collectivist Anarchists disagree on most things.

Overall, I think I'll be lucky to get a C.