1.2.1 What is an Ideology?




© Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons. The monument for Vladimir Lenin in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Photo taken by Ds022006.


©Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons. The Statue of Liberty. Photo taken by Dietmar Rabich on July 31, 2012.  Photo of The Statue of Liberty



©Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons. Photo taken by Wolfmann, on May 8th, 2019 . Nazi Regalia from he 1936 Berlin Olympic Games.

 


©Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons. Photo taken by Atahualpa29 .
Statue of the Revolutionary Che Guevara

 


 
Consider the images of the statues. Do you see pieces of bronze, marble, concrete, and copper, or do you see representations of an idea or a set of ideas? For many people, these images are associated with sets of ideas for organizing human society. In other words, each is associated with an ideology.

Can you identify any of the ideologies represented by the statues? Communism? Liberalism? Fascism? This entire course examines the development and impact of these ideologies as symbolized by these statues.

In Section 1, you began to develop an understanding of how beliefs and values influence identity. In this section, we examine the characteristics and themes that make up these belief systems, otherwise known as ideologies.

In this section, you will be answering these questions:
What is an ideology?
What are some characteristics and themes of ideologies?

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