Schedule for Today
1. Continue 'Contributors to Identity' Discussion
2. Definition of Ideology:
A set of principles or ideas that explains your world and your place within it, which is based on certain assumptions about human nature and society, and provides an interpretation of the past, an explanation of the present, and a vision for the future.
I cannot stress how important this definition is to the course. Look on the title page of your textbook, for goodness' sake.
Okay, now that we have a definition to work with, let's examine a few things about it. We'll break it down into chunks.
First: the 'set of principles or ideas that explains your world and your place within it' part.
Let's look at the list on the board. These are your guiding principles. How does it explain your world and your place within it?
Second: the 'certain assumptions about human nature and society' bit. How do people act? How do societies act? Why do people make the decisions they do? What is human nature? Why do societies act the way they do? Are there exceptions to any of these?
Timeout: Let's try to form an ideology for the class. A 'mission statement' if you will, but one that we feel can be applied to the whole class. Before we do, let's look at some famous ones:
Karl Marx
Machiavelli
Martin Luther King, Jr.
and, because this speech is so great, let's listen!
"I Have a Dream"
Man, I hope we fight. Trust me, it's more fun that way.
Third: Can ideologies in general, and maybe ours specifically, be used to interpret the past, explain the present, and provide a vision for the future?