Political Ideology: Crash Course Government and Politics #35 — Transcript

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1. 0:03Hi, I'm Craig, and this is Crash Course Government and Politics. And today, we're gonna get personal.
2. 0:08Not personal in the sense that I'm gonna tell you I'm a bed wetter cause I'm not...gonna tell you that.
3. 0:12We're gonna talk about people's personal political views and where they come from. This is what
4. 0:15political scientists sometimes call Political Socialization.
5. 0:18But before we get into the forces that help create our political outlooks, we should probably
6. 0:21define what political ideologies look like in America.
7. 0:24[Theme Music]
8. 0:33In America, there are a number of ways people characterize themselves politically.
9. 0:36Typically, they identify with a political party, although as we'll see when we talk more about parties,
10. 0:40this has become less likely over time.
11. 0:42And although there's a lot of overlap between political party and political ideology, there's
12. 0:45not 100% correspondence between the two.
13. 0:48But there is 100% overlap between my fist and this eagle's beak! Politics.
14. 0:53So, now I should probably say what I mean by political ideology. Basically, I'm talking
15. 0:57about whether you identify as liberal or conservative or libertarian or socialist or anarchist or
16. 1:02nihilist or craigist - people who just love me. I'm one of those.
17. 1:09You're probably familiar with the idea that liberals are on the left, and conservatives
18. 1:12are on the right. And this can be a helpful shorthand, but what political views do these terms represent?
19. 1:16Let's go to the Clone Zone! What? The Clone Zone - it's right here now? I'll just...I'll
20. 1:21leave then. This way? I'll go this way.
21. 1:23Taking a cue from anti-federalists, American conservatives believe that a large government poses
22. 1:28a threat to individual liberty, and we prefer our national government to be as small as possible. (Scoffs)
23. 1:33We have this in common with libertarians. There are some basic functions like national
24. 1:36defense that government can best take care of. But especially since the New Deal, our
25. 1:40government has taken on too much. What government we need is best handled by states and localities.
26. 1:45For the most part, American conservatives believe in the free market and that it will
27. 1:48provide the greatest economic opportunity and benefit to the greatest number of people.
28. 1:53American conservatives usually support a strong defense. This is one place where we generally don't
29. 1:57think spending should be cut. Most other programs, the things that fall under discretionary spending,
30. 2:02can and should be left up to the private sector. And this will allow the government to reduce its spending.
31. 2:06Lower spending, in turn, will mean lower taxes. Ahh, delicious lower taxes.
32. 2:11This means that we don't like flag burning, and we favor prayer in schools because these
33. 2:14reflect traditional religious and patriotic values.
34. 2:17Just like the eagle. I love the eagle. You're my friend. (Kisses eagle)
35. 2:21Many conservatives, as strong adherents to religious faiths, are against abortion.
36. 2:24But I'd say there's a greater diversity in conservative views on social issues than on economic ones.
37. 2:29The social sphere is where we differ significantly from our libertarian friends who don't see
38. 2:33any role for government in people's personal lives. This means that libertarians often
39. 2:37support things like marijuana legalization that more traditional conservatives do not support.
40. 2:41If there's one value that American conservatives privilege above others, it's liberty. America
41. 2:44is a country of freedom, and in most cases, government is more of a threat to liberty than a protector of it.
42. 2:49And I'm out. (Kisses hand and touches eagle's head)
43. 2:52Not bad conservative clone. But bad, here's why.
44. 2:55Sometimes liberals in the U.S. are called New Deal Liberals because the policies that we
45. 2:59support grew out of the New Deal. And lately, a number of us are trying to re-brand ourselves as progressives.
46. 3:03Although this is a little tricky given that, historically, progressives and liberals aren't the same thing.
47. 3:07In general, American liberals believe that government can help solve problems, and a
48. 3:11bigger government, like a glorious soaring eagle can solve bigger problems and more of them.
49. 3:18We support government intervention in the economy, both in the form of regulations and
50. 3:22higher taxes, especially when that intervention benefits historically marginalized groups
51. 3:26like minorities, women, and the poor.
52. 3:27We like to the government step in on behalf of consumers and to protect the environment
53. 3:31because in general, we don't trust that the free market will be fair to everyone.
54. 3:34We know that protection of the environment, aiding the poor, and expanding civil liberties all cost money,
55. 3:38so we usually favor a progressive tax system with higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
56. 3:43Although not all American liberals are anti-business, as a rule we don't have a lot of faith that big
57. 3:47businesses have the average American's best interest at heart, and so we prefer to see them regulated.
58. 3:51Although we still see national defense as important, most American liberals feel that
59. 3:55the country spends more than enough on the military and that the defense budget should
60. 3:58be cut, leaving more money for necessary social programs.
61. 4:01In the debate over guns or butter, we like butter. Although we're also fine with the
62. 4:04government telling us not to eat so much of it.
63. 4:06If conservatives value liberty, we liberals cherish equality as their primary political
64. 4:10virtue, and we see government as a necessary agent in promoting equality. (Kisses hand and pats eagle's head)
65. 4:15We're equals, me and that eagle.
66. 4:17Thanks clones. So, for the most part, this is what most American liberals and conservatives
67. 4:21believe, and these are the basic foundations upon which they build their political opinions.
68. 4:24But where do they come from? (Punches eagle and eagle tumbles to the floor)
69. 4:27Political scientists sometimes refer to the process by which individuals establish their
70. 4:30personal political ideologies as political socialization. And they have identified four
71. 4:34main agents that contribute to our political identities.
72. 4:37Let's go to the Thought Bubble!
73. 4:38The first and most important source of our politics is family. This makes a lot of sense
74. 4:42since kids either want to emulate their parents or reject their ideas. And parents are usually
75. 4:46the first people that express political opinions to kids.
76. 4:48As I suggested, family can influence your political outlook in negative and positive
77. 4:52ways. If you respect your parents and admire them, it's likely you will adopt their political ideology.
78. 4:56On the other hand, adopting an opposing political view can be a form of rebellion.
79. 5:00Still, for the most part, liberal parents breed liberal children, and conservative parents
80. 5:03create new generations of conservatives.
81. 5:05The second major influence on political ideology is social groups, which in this case, refer
82. 5:09to one's race, gender, religion, or ethnicity. Obviously, these are generalizations, but
83. 5:13certain groups tend to fall predictably into liberal or conservative camps.
84. 5:16African Americans and Jewish people are among the most liberal Americans while white Catholics
85. 5:20tend to be conservative. Latinos are an interesting case because many identify as Catholic, but
86. 5:24they tend to be more liberal politically.
87. 5:26One of the reasons that many use to explain why African Americans and Latinos tend to be
88. 5:29liberals is that these groups are disproportionately poor and receive a significant share of government benefits.
89. 5:34To this way of thinking, economic self interest is a prime determiner of where one stands
90. 5:39politically, and it also explains why white conservatives, especially those who are wealthy,
91. 5:42favor policies of lower taxes and less government intervention.
92. 5:45One problem with this purely self interested view of political ideology though is that
93. 5:49there is a large number of low income, low wealth white voters who also do or would gain
94. 5:52from more government benefits. But they tend to be conservative.
95. 5:55In other words, be careful when you try to define a person's politics by looking at their bank account.
96. 5:59Gender also tends to be statistically significant in terms of political ideology. The gender
97. 6:03gap refers to the fact that women tend to be more liberal overall than men. This is especially
98. 6:07true on the issue of national defense where they tend to favor spending reductions rather than increases.
99. 6:11Thanks Thought Bubble. The third agent of political socialization in the U.S. is education,
100. 6:15namely the primary and secondary school system.
101. 6:18This is the most formal way that our political views are shaped since almost all American
102. 6:21students take at least one year of American history, and many states require courses in civics.
103. 6:25In these courses, students learn about political values like liberty and equality and may come
104. 6:29to align themselves with a liberal or conservative view.
105. 6:31And maybe you're watching me in one of these classes right now...
106. 6:35Conservatives tend to think that American schools and textbooks skew towards a liberal
107. 6:39outlook, but this might be because most public school teachers are members of unions, and
108. 6:43teachers' union membership correlates highly with a liberal viewpoint.
109. 6:46Whether or not most teachers and textbooks are liberal, it's a bit of a leap to assume
110. 6:49that most students will automatically adopt the ideology of their teachers.
111. 6:52Education does relate to political ideology in at least one measurable way though.
112. 6:56In that the higher the level of education one attains, the more likely one is to profess
113. 6:59liberal views on issues such as women's rights or abortion.
114. 7:02On the other hand, higher education levels also correlate with more conservative views on issues
115. 7:06like government support of national health insurance or affirmative action programs to help African Americans.
116. 7:10So, as with many things we look at, things aren't so clear cut, and it's important to
117. 7:14have some kind of data to back up our generalizations.
118. 7:16One final agent of political socialization are the political conditions one lives through.
119. 7:20Example - if you grew up during the Great Depression and saw FDR's New Deal programs
120. 7:24benefit you and your family, it's likely that you'd develop and maintain pro-government, liberal views.
121. 7:28If you came of age during the Reagan era, when popular politicians were singing the
122. 7:31praises of self-reliance and calling government the problem rather than the solution, it's
123. 7:35likely that you'd develop conservative political views.
124. 7:37It remains to be seen whether people who form their political identities during the Great
125. 7:40Recession will be liberal or conservative. But don't worry - pollsters are busy trying to figure it out.
126. 7:45So there you have a very broad outline of what the words conservative and liberal mean
127. 7:48in American politics and some of the factors that turn people into liberals or conservatives.
128. 7:52More than probably anything I've said in this series, these are generalizations that you
129. 7:55need to look at critically. This doesn't mean that if you find someone or if you are someone
130. 7:58who doesn't fit either description 100%, that we're completely wrong, only that political
131. 8:03ideologies are complex and change over time.
132. 8:05But we need to understand the outlines of these generalities because they get used all
133. 8:08the time in our discussions of American politics. In fact, it would be hard to talk about politics without them.
134. 8:12Thanks for watching - see you next time.
135. 8:14Crash Course Government and Politics is produced in association with PBS Digital Studios. Support
136. 8:18for Crash Course U.S. Government comes from Voqal.
137. 8:20Voqal supports non-profits that use technology and media to advance social equity. Learn
138. 8:24more about their mission and initiatives at voqal.org.
139. 8:27Crash Course was made with the help of all these political ideologues. Thanks for watching!